


Ever After

by MeredithBrody



Series: Piece Of Your Heart [1]
Category: Designated Survivor (TV)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Mostly Canon Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-25
Updated: 2018-11-05
Packaged: 2019-05-13 12:04:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 88,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14748527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeredithBrody/pseuds/MeredithBrody
Summary: "Don't you moveCan't you stay where you areJust for nowI could be your perfect disasterYou could be my ever after"Kendra and Trey navigate the murky waters of dating while having their lives tied to the President, while Seth and Lyor have to work out if they even have a relationship at all.(canon compliant through the end of season 2)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Fibi94](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fibi94/gifts), [Hideous_Sun_Demon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hideous_Sun_Demon/gifts), [PinkAngel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PinkAngel/gifts).



Kendra did not like waking up. She especially didn’t like waking up before her alarm but the knocking didn’t seem to be stopping and now it was getting to the point of annoying. She knew it wasn’t Trey, since he was laid in bed next to her, and that meant someone probably needed to go and answer the door. “There’s someone at the door.” She mumbled, pulling the pillow over her head again as she tried to pretend she wasn’t awake.

“Kendra, babe, this is your house,” Trey replied with a chuckle then kissed her shoulder a few times. He knew how to convince her to move even if they weren’t really going to get all that much chance to do anything. Especially not if it was who she expected it to be at the door. There was only one person who would be knocking on her door this time of a morning.

“I hate that you’re right.” She grumbled then moved the pillow and moved up to kiss Trey deeply as she hoped that they would finally go away and just let her have her morning in bed until she had to go and get ready for work. That was going to be the part she hated too, when the knocking started again she growled again. “They aren’t going away, are they?”

“It doesn’t sound like it.” Trey laughed between kissing her deeply. Kendra was not used to being treated as well as she was with him, and that was partly why she really didn’t want to actually get out of the bed. “It’s probably Lyor.” Yeah, she thought that Trey was probably right and the only person who would actually try and wake her up at this time in the morning.

“Probably. There is tofu scramble in the fridge can you warm it up?” She felt like she was going to need breakfast, and she had taught Trey plenty of ways to make her a breakfast that didn’t require meat. It was still a slow process, but he did seem to like the things that she made. “I think there might even be some of that coconut bacon you like.”

“My diet has changed so much in the last month.” He laughed as she slid out of the bed. She knew that if she didn’t she would just want to stay in bed the extra half an hour and do something that would be so much more satisfying about waking up thank going dealing with who she knew was going to be at the door.

Instead, she pulled her pyjamas on and headed out to the door, letting Trey loose in the kitchen. She hoped that he had at least put underwear on. She couldn’t always guarantee that in the morning. As the knocking started again she winced and stifled a yawn opening the door. Glad to see that she and Trey had been right. “Lyor.”

“I’m glad you’re home.” Was his first response and he went to move past her, not actually waiting for an invitation. This was why she hadn’t given him a key despite him being her best friend. When that had happened was definitely a discussion for another day, right now she just wanted to know why he thought that it was appropriate for her to be awake.

“You knew I was home, or you would not have stood knocking on the door for like ten minutes. Come on in.” She added the latter sarcastically, shutting the door as Lyor had already cleared it and settled himself on the sofa in her formal sitting room. He was the only person that didn’t immediately head through to the kitchen since that was where she spent the majority of her time.

“I couldn’t sleep I was thinking about the… hi, Trey.” Lyor stopped instantly as Trey came through from the kitchen and he was just in his underwear. Maybe this would convince Lyor that he couldn’t keep doing this. Kendra didn’t think that it would change anything about the way that Lyor behaved, nothing had at this point.

 “Lyor,” Trey responded and Kendra noticed that Trey seemed almost less comfortable than Lyor as he handed her a mug of coffee and kissed her cheek. “I’ve put the scramble on but I had a text from Penny. I’ll come see you later.” Kendra was going to guess that it was another panic about her science project, but she wasn’t going to push.

“Sure. See you later.” She smiled softly as he headed toward the stairs and then she motioned to Lyor and decided that she wasn’t going to leave him in here while she cooked. He could come and be silent while she woke herself up. “Come through to the kitchen.” It wasn’t a request, and after a moment Lyor followed her through. A minute or two after that they heard her front door open and shut again.

“You two are getting serious?” Lyor eventually said, motioning over his shoulder to the front of the house they both knew Trey had just gone out of. It was a hard question for Kendra to answer since she didn’t actually remember the last time a relationship she had had turned serious.

“Kind of. I don’t know.” It was true because she knew that she wanted for this to be a long-term thing, but she was still hesitant and worried that she was going to find some way to mess it up. Sure, Trey had seen through everything that she usually did but that didn’t stop her from thinking about the possibilities. “It’s only been a month but, yeah I guess.”

“Kendra you don’t fool anyone. Least of all me.” Lyor smiled a little as he said that and she narrowed her eyes. Lyor was one of the most oblivious people in the world and she was fairly sure that she could fool him if she was really trying but she wasn’t actually trying here. Truthfully she wanted people to tell her so that she knew if it was obvious.

Right now was not the time for that discussion though, and she thought that she probably needed to be talking to Trey about it first. Turning her attention back to why Lyor was here was definitely a better idea. “Anyway, why are you hammering at my door at… six thirty.” She groaned as she realised the time on the microwave was not an illusion and it really was barely dawn.

“I got here at six but you’re a really heavy sleeper. Ten minutes was a really low estimate.” Lyor didn’t seem to care that she was glaring at him with that response, she enjoyed spending time in bed, and she enjoyed it when she actually got to sleep and wasn’t called in to work. “How does anyone sleep that heavily?”

“I get to have sex occasionally so I was really hoping to sleep in.” She couldn’t help but put that in, especially since she knew that Lyor actually wasn’t all that interested in sex on the whole. How that conversation had come up between them months earlier she didn’t remember, but she did remember the opinions.

“Can’t sleep in. Have a Chief of Staff to hire and a campaign to begin.” He sounded far too chipper given that she had yet to eat and her coffee was only half empty. Trey made a good coffee, she’d have to thank him for that. “Did you see that the President already knows who he wants to hire. He sent us all an email at…”

“I hate you.” She cut him off because she just couldn’t stand words anymore. She needed some silence while she worked out what she was going to do this morning. Right now murdering Lyor was high on her list of tasks. “How have I not killed you yet? I hate morning people.” It wasn’t really a question and Lyor seemed to decide that maybe he should try and stay quiet.

“You’ve still not sold this place?” It lasted a blissful forty-seven seconds. It felt like a lifetime but Kendra knew that Lyor could never stay silent for long and he clearly had something on his mind this morning, even if he hadn’t done the best at articulating what it was that he needed to do. “I would have thought you sold it by now.

“It’s been three weeks, Lyor.” She snapped because she just couldn’t take it. She wasn’t awake enough for this conversation and she definitely wasn’t awake enough to be reminded why she was sleeping in the back bedroom and was selling this place to begin with. “I swear if you don’t stop talking until I have eaten and had coffee I am going to force this spatula down your throat.” It wasn’t an empty threat either.

Thankfully, he fell quiet with that threat, at least long enough for her to finish her coffee and wolf down a bagel with the tofu scramble she’d warmed up in the pan. After that, she was much more human and more able to listen to his rambles about what was bothering him and why he couldn’t sleep. Apparently, it bothered him enough that it remained his topic of conversation even after they picked Seth up and got to work. Thankfully, Kendra had a few hours relief before she met the two of them for lunch. Now though, she had Seth to deal with too. “I still can’t believe he didn’t just, promote Aaron back.”

“Well, I can, it would be a nightmare in the press given everything that was going on when Aaron left the White House the first time and the issues Emily had caused to begin with.” Kendra maybe was a little harsher on Emily than she should be and truthfully she was probably the only member of the senior staff who hadn’t checked up on Emily over the last few weeks. The truth was that she was a little relieved not to be dealing with Emily’s legal missteps any more. “No, bringing someone else in to replace Emily is a good idea.”

“Can you pass me the salt,” Seth said but Kendra knew that was his way of buying time while he tried to think of a more polite way to phrase what he was going to say next. “Yeah but Beth Callahan?” What was it that these men had against the President’s first choice for Emily’s replacement. Kendra had never met her but had heard nothing but positive things.

“You didn’t like me when I started here. Now you like me.” Lyor said and there was something about it that reminded Kendra there was something going on here. Something had been going on ever since they’d come back from their trip away, together. That tsunami had changed something between them and Kendra was really just happy for her friends.

“Begrudgingly,” Seth grumbled while picking at his food and that was not helping with her realisation that these two were well on their way to being far more than just friends. Kendra had already had that thought, given that she’d picked Lyor up from Seth’s place most days for the last week, this morning being the only time she hadn’t.

“I swear to god if you two don’t make out soon I’m going to bash your heads together.” She really wasn’t sure how they were managing to hide all this tension from everyone else when it was becoming so painfully obvious to her. “How about date night? You two and me and Trey.” At the very least it would give them an opportunity to get to know Trey.

“Wait, what?” They both said in unison and then tried to scowl at each other, though Kendra saw that it was mostly for show. Seth especially dropped it quickly and just ended up smiling. Somehow it seemed fitting that they had found so much happiness in each other, especially given the issues that Seth had had with Emily earlier in the year.

“Oh please, you can fool everyone else but you can’t fool me.” She rolled her eyes and smirked, hoping that they realised that she was actually happy for them both. “Besides, I drive you both to work and I know when _someone_ hasn’t been home in over a week.” She said, pointedly staring at Lyor. “I’ll call Trey, arranging dates is his forte and we’ll go out tomorrow night.”

“Fine.” Lyor looked like he really wanted to argue, but clearly, he decided that it wasn’t going to be worth it. Of course, Kendra was going to agree with him that it wasn’t worth arguing, she’d win and they’d end up going out anyway. She then turned to Seth who looked worried for a second before just nodding.

“I also really want you both to get to know Trey so… think of it as being good for all of us.” She didn’t want them to just be thinking of him as their boss’ brother or her boyfriend, but she wanted them to get to know the man too. He was good and kind and she knew that he’d get along with them if they all just tried to see past it. When they both nodded again she smiled wider. “Good. Now that that is out of the way can either of you tell me what you actually have against the new chief of staff given that we all just survived Emily.”

She listened to their arguments but thought they were flimsy at best. Kendra actually looked forward to seeing someone else with a family managing in this job, given that the only person she knew with one was the President and that hadn’t gone so well. As soon as she was alone in her office she called Trey and told him what it was that she needed.

“ _You want me to arrange a short notice double date for us and…_ who.”

“Seth and Lyor, you know, my best friends.” She was being a little sarcastic, as she knew that he knew that. He was clearly wondering why she was calling it a double date and she would explain that later but right now she was too tired to explain it over the phone. “Trey don’t start I’m already super tired and we have two house viewings tonight.”

“ _Alright, alright. I’ll do it but only because you’re the one asking me, okay?_ ”

“Okay.” She would take that, there were plenty of things they’d both probably only do because the other asked. Kendra looked at her computer just in time to see the notification about the first house viewing tonight and remember that she had wanted Trey with her, hopefully, he had remembered. “What time are you meeting me? The first viewing is at 6.”

“ _I’ll be in your office at 4:30. Need me to bring anything?_ ”

“A stick to convince me to buy a new house.” She grumbled a little, and in the last few hours buying a new house had become more pressing that it had been. Her seller had called and said there was an offer for her house and it did mean that things needed to move forward more quickly. “I had an offer put in on mine today.”

“ _Did you accept?_ ”

“It’s 15 grand over the asking I couldn’t say no.” That and she really wanted to sell. Most of the house was already in boxes, what was left she was sure her mother would box up. “Mom is going to pack the place up tomorrow so that I only have to worry about the basics.” She was going to be eating a lot of take-out. She looked up as there was a knock on her door and frowned seeing Lyor there. “I gotta go, I’ll tell you more tonight.” She barely even had time to hear Trey’s reply before she was pulled into another crisis.

At least the first house they were seeing was in walking distance, and she was glad that she was going to be able to walk to work. It was also the house she knew that she wanted. She’d never seen inside but every time she’d driven past it for years she’d wanted to live in it. Trey met her at 4:30, just like he’d said, and they had time to grab a coffee before they started walking, Trey’s secret service detail giving them a reasonable private distance. “If you sold your house where are you gonna stay?”

“I’m not sure. I could always stay with my mom in Bethesda.” It wouldn’t be ideal, and the commute would be a pain in the ass but she didn’t really have a choice. She’d spoken with her agent again after talking with Trey and the new owners wanted to be able to move in as soon as the deal was complete.

“Babe I am not staying at your mom’s every night.” Trey laughed, wrapping his arm around her and pulling her into his side. They might not be able to be the most normal of couples, always having a secret service agent following them and the fact they were both deeply involved in the day-to-day business of the White House, but moments like this reminded her that they weren’t that different really either.

“You live with my boss in the White House, I can’t exactly stay with you.” She laughed, though if she’d had a choice that would have been her first choice. Mostly because she knew Trey’s room was nowhere near the President, Leo and Penny. “This house is the one though. Every time I’ve driven past it on my way to work I’ve said it’s my dream house.” Kendra smiled as they stopped outside.

“We should get in then.” Trey grinned then took hold of her hand as they went up the path, arriving just as the agent did too. They were told all the positives of the house then left to wander around a little on their own, which of course led to questions that Kendra maybe should have answered before. “Ken, not to make this about money but exactly how loaded are you?”

“Before or after selling the house?” That would change the figure substantially, given she’d been offered almost a million for her house and had accepted that. A lot of what had bought her that house was an inheritance of sorts too. She had a feeling that it was actually guilt money that her biological father had given her mother, but she’d never actually asked. “I’m reasonably loaded.” She didn’t actually know how much. She’d made a lot of money in private practice and had saved wisely, she’d also had inheritances that she’d invested too. It had brought her a nice little return. There were some positives to it, and at least she knew that she didn’t have to worry about mortgages. “I don’t have to get a mortgage for this place, that’s how loaded.”

“Wait, what?” Trey’s entire brain seemed to freeze for a moment before he came over and wrapped his arms around her again giving her a gentle squeeze. She actually liked that, she got to stand there with him imagining this place as a home. “Damn I’m dating up.” He teased after a moment.

“You better believe it. Come on.” She took his hand and pulled him through to the room that was the most important to her, the kitchen. As she looked around she knew that this was exactly what she wanted. It was a much more traditional layout than her place too, which she actually preferred. “Oh, it’s just as perfect as I thought. This kitchen is amazing.”

“So you want to make an offer?” Trey asked, clearly knowing that the kitchen had sold her. This was the kind of kitchen she’d grown up with, it was large but still felt cosy, had a little nook for a table and chairs and was going to be exactly what she wanted when it came to cooking and entertaining.

“Yeah. Three beds, so it’s one up from my old place.” She hadn’t thought she’d actually need a third bedroom. Even if she wanted a family she hadn’t actually found anyone she wanted to have one with until recently. It was still too early to be thinking about all that but she realised that it was true. She could easily see herself starting a family with Trey Kirkman. Now wasn’t that a terrifying thought.

“It’s not got quite such a gigantic staircase.” Trey laughed, and Kendra had to admit that it was nice to see him liking this place too. She knew that he wasn’t much of a fan of her house, it was too big and too open for his tastes and she didn’t actually blame him for that. When she was 24 and a law student it had seemed perfect. But at 37 and working in the White House, it just seemed like a lot of empty space.  “I think this is perfect though.”

“Then I’ll put the offer in.” She smiled and then as she looked at him she felt this sudden urge to let him know how much she cared that he’d been with her for the last month and that he’d made sure that she was okay, and that he’d been with her through the house hunting. “Thanks for coming doing all this with me, we’ve only been dating a month and all of that was conducted in the shadow of that…”

“Kendra. I care about you and nothing would have stopped me.” He reassured her, coming close and kissing her softly before pulling back a little. “Let’s go tell the agent, huh? Then we can go home and celebrate.” That was exactly what she needed, and just another evening with him was enough that she wanted to get everything done with. Tomorrow was going to be an interesting day, and it made her even more determined to enjoy a night alone with Trey tonight.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eeeeeep. So I finally got this second chapter written and I swear my muse was in a really bad mood about it. She doesn't want to write these awkward beginnings. After these first 4 chapters there will be longer time jumps between the chapters, not by much, but a few days or a week at least. The first 4 chapters all take place in the space of 72 hours.

Seth had managed to beat Lyor up this morning, which was not a common thing since they’d been spending all this time together. Normally Seth would wake up to Lyor being dressed and yelling at the TV or, like the previous morning, not being there at all. The alarms were about to go off and Seth knew that he should probably wake him. He was about to do that when Lyor spoke, and Seth wondered if he’d actually been asleep at all. “Did we really agree to go out with Kendra and our boss’ brother tonight?”

“We did. She’s really excited about it too.” At least that was the impression the four text messages she’d sent had implied. He and Lyor had been busy trying to work out whatever it was between the two of them since they’d gotten back that they hadn’t spent as much time with their friend as maybe they should have done, she seemed to be enjoying herself though. “She seems to really like Trey, and she wants us to get to know him.”

“But why?” Only Lyor would ask that question. As if it was unusual that she would want for her friends to get to know someone she clearly thought was going to be in her life long-term. Truthfully Trey Kirkman was going to be in all their lives for a long time, it was just more personal for Kendra. Seth wanted to support his friend, and he had hoped that eventually, Lyor would realise that that’s what all this was.

“Because we’re her friends and this is important to her.” He tried to press that point again, but he really wasn’t sure that Lyor was going to be able to deal with that. “If I dated outside the staff pool I’d probably be the same about you and her meeting who I was dating.” Alright, Seth would admit that sounded pathetic. He also needed to stop dating his co-workers.

“I just don’t know if I can disconnect that he’s the President’s brother,” Lyor admitted after a few more minutes of silent stewing in which Seth had mostly considered his own inability to meet people. “Doesn’t that bother you?” That was a loaded question because while he had to admit he wasn’t sure how to cope with his best friend dating their boss’ brother, did he really have the right to be bothered when clearly it wasn’t bothering her.

“If it doesn’t bother her, and the President has approved, why should it matter to us?” If Lyor had a good answer to that he’d let it go, but he didn’t think that he did. When Lyor stayed silent Seth knew he could continue pushing why they both needed to get over it. “Trey isn’t in office, he’s only even in the White House so much because he helps with Penny. He deserves a personal life and so does Kendra… and they happen to have intersected.”

“I guess it just makes me uncomfortable. I’ve never been sure how friendly we should get given he’s a Kirkman.” That was slightly more valid, there was supposed to be a boundary between professional and personal, but hardly anyone knew what it was like to work in the White House, and those lines tended to be much more blurred than they often were outside of a job like this. “Seeing him in his underwear yesterday didn’t help.”

That made Seth snort and he had to admit that it was quite funny to look over to the other side of the bed and see Lyor pouting at him. He nudged him gently and laughed again before actually pointing out that it was his own fault. “Maybe you shouldn’t have gone knocking Kendra up at six am, then. That one’s on you, man.”

“I needed to talk to her and it couldn’t have waited until I got to work.” Seth tried not to feel put out at things like that. He knew that Lyor and Kendra often had more work they needed to do together and sometimes that left him out, but there was an annoyance that Lyor had left before work to go and talk about it. Though Seth was pretty sure it was still far more annoying for Kendra than it was for him. “Her having a boyfriend is really very inconvenient for me.”

“I’m absolutely certain that was one of her considerations when she started dating. Inconveniencing you as much as humanly possible.” Seth deadpanned. Lyor had a tendency to make everything about him and forget that they each had their own lives. He found it endearing, but it was nice to be able to take him down a peg. “You do realise that her relationship status has nothing to do with you, right?”

“Maybe it should be about me.” It was an instant reply and Seth found himself just staring at Lyor for a second as though he really needed to think it through again. After a moment of silence, Lyor very theatrically sighed and crossed his arms. “Alright, I’ll admit I’m being unreasonable here. I’m just used to her being available when I have these obsessive thoughts first thing in a morning.”

“How are you not dead?” Seth had experienced Kendra’s morning sarcasm exactly once. She tended to glare until she’d had coffee. He was actually grateful the night he’d been arrested she’d had coffee before she came to bail him out. The rest of the time she was scary. “I daren’t speak to her until she’s had a cup of coffee and I know she’s eaten.”

“She was wondering the same thing yesterday. I guess she just finds me charming.” Lyor managed to say it with a straight face, but Seth knew Lyor well enough by now to be able to tell that that was a joke. Almost certainly one that Lyor knew was the exact opposite of what was actually realistic.

“Or she has nothing to beat you with.” Seth felt his was probably far more accurate. They both lapsed into a silence and despite knowing that they had to go to work Seth wanted to talk about something that had been on his mind. “You know she was right though… we haven’t been as specific as we could have been about what this is.” It wasn’t as though they’d had sex, or even kissed, but they were remarkably domestic and spent almost every night cuddling. “You stay at my house more nights than you don’t.”

“Do we really have to think about this now. It’s been three weeks since we got back, Seth.” Lyor closed down quicker than Seth could have even actually imagined and he slid out of the bed and away from the conversation in a very literal demonstration of his walking away. That wasn’t going to put Seth off this morning though, he felt like they eventually needed to talk about this, even if Lyor wanted to run away.

“That’s long enough for me to know that I care about you and that I want more of this. I want more _than_ this.” Seth didn’t want to rush Lyor and he really didn’t mind if they just spent their time being domestic, but he needed to know that it was eventually going to go somewhere.

“We should get ready for work,” Lyor said and then stepped into the bathroom, leaving Seth alone with his thoughts. Once already this year Seth had been involved in a relationship with someone who couldn’t commit and he really didn’t want to have to go through that again. Sure, the situation with Emily had been different to this, but Seth still wasn’t sure that he could do all that uncertainty again.

That uncertainty was hanging over him all morning and he knew that people were giving him funny looks but he didn’t really care. He was actually glad that Lyor was on the hill for lunch, as it gave him time to sit and wallow in his misery. All he wanted was a sigh from Lyor that he wasn’t wasting his time here but that didn’t seem to be coming. After a month Trey and Kendra seemed to know exactly where they were. Seth knew that comparing his relationship to someone else’s wasn’t the best way to think, but it was all he knew how to do. “Not a good night?” The voice jolted him from his thoughts and he looked up to see Kendra and her Tupperware coming to sit beside him.

“Rough morning, you?” Seth mumbled but hoped that his enquiry about Kendra’s day sounded more sincere than he actually felt. She seemed more cheerful than anyone actually should be when he was feeling quite so miserable. Now he was being the self-centred one, great. That didn’t seem to be affecting Kendra though.

“I had a great night and I slept until my alarm so today started off well.” Seth wasn’t going to translate ‘great night’ in his mind because he was already fairly sure he knew what it was. At least it was further proof that she was actually happy. “I finally bought a new house, and sold mine.”

“In one afternoon?” Yesterday morning she’d been complaining about not being able to sell her house. Now she had both sold her house and bought another. He was impressed and it was enough to pull him out of his funk. Something new to focus on that wasn’t going to make him want to cry. “You move fast, Ken.”

“Yeah well. I won’t be driving you and Lyor anymore though so you’ll have to work out the trains again.” That was kind of disappointing, and he wondered where she could possibly be moving too that would mean she couldn’t pick them up. Apparently, the question showed on his face as she kept speaking. “I’ll be in walking distance.”

“Well, that’s just rude of you.” He joked, allowing Kendra’s happiness to lift his own mood. He knew that what was going on with him and Lyor would work out eventually, one way or the other, and moping about it really wasn’t going to help. That and Kendra had this ability to cheer anyone up no matter how bad they were feeling.

“I know, I’m the rudest.” Kendra smiled a little, carrying on the joke. She really was the best person to cheer him up. Sometimes she was actually better at it than Lyor was. It was great. “Trey has tonight all organised. He didn’t think you and Lyor would be so much for a sit-down dinner so we’re going bowling.”

Wait, what? That did sound like fun for a group of friends, but for two couples he really didn’t get the logic. Kendra seemed like she was confident it would be fun. “Bowling?” He had to ask because it just was not connecting in his mind to being something that they would actually find fun.

“It’ll be great, trust me.” She reassured him, reaching out and squeezing his arm with a smile. “Can you both just… try and get along with Trey? I really like him, Seth, I think I have a shot at this.” The gentle begging in her voice made Seth pause for a moment and realise that maybe he and Lyor had been a little too dismissive of her relationship up until this point, all because he knew neither of them knew how to deal with the fact that Trey was Tom Kirkman’s brother. That wasn’t fair for Kendra or for Trey.

“I’ll try.” He smiled and put his hand on top of hers with a smile. As he’d been thinking earlier, they didn’t really have all that many friends outside of this place and that meant that they needed to stick together. To that end, Kendra probably knew Lyor better than anyone, maybe she would know what to do about him. “I need some advice from you though.” He didn’t mean for it to sound quite as conditional as it did.

“What?” She asked with a slight suspicious air. Seth wondered what he’d done that made her quite that suspicious immediately but given the way he phrased it, it might not be all that surprising. He had to pause for a moment as he thought of the best way to phrase what he was thinking about and how he really actually needed her help.

“How do I get Lyor to talk about his feelings?” He blurted out after a few seconds. He really should have thought it out more because that just sounded desperate and slightly pathetic. He wasn’t pathetic, at least he didn’t think he was, he just really wanted for Lyor to talk about his feelings rather than shutting Seth out. It had been three weeks.

Kendra mulled the question over for a few minutes then smiled a little sadly before responding. “… Get Hannah to restrain him?” Why did he expect something helpful? That was very rarely Kendra’s style when it came to something like this. At least, not on her first go. She did make it clear she was joking, at least.

“Surprisingly that’s not helpful.” He smiled too, trying to keep the mood light but he just couldn’t, he needed to talk about this with someone and Lyor said that Kendra was his best friend, surely she was the one who’d know. “I keep bringing it up but he runs away every time.”

“You’re probably gonna have to let him take the lead, babe.” She frowned softly and reached out to put her hand over his and give it a squeeze. “You knew going into this that Lyor doesn’t exactly have the healthiest relationship with his emotions and pushing him is just going to make him close up more.” There was the advice that he’d been waiting for but it still didn’t really help all that much.

“I just want to know where I stand?” He admitted quietly and hung his head. There was a part of him that was ashamed about this, but after all the running around that Emily had done he wasn’t really sure that he could cope with not knowing exactly where he stood in a relationship. He didn’t want to ever face that again.

“Does he spend time with you? Listen to you while you talk? Tell you things he’s not told anyone else?” Kendra prompted and Seth slowly looked back up at her. He knew that, even long before Trey had been in the picture, Kendra had been a hopeless romantic. Right now he was benefitting from that. “Does he make you happy?”

“All of those, yeah.” He nodded after a moment. Sure, there was a lot that he and Lyor hadn’t done yet but what they did do made him happier than he could actually remember being. Maybe because Lyor didn’t have any expectations for him and that was remarkably freeing. Making dinner or talking about work or just settling in for the night, he looked forward to it all.

“Then talking about it doesn’t matter as much as you’re thinking it does. Everything will come in time.” Kendra acted like she knew that for sure but Seth wasn’t at all sure about that. He didn’t know if anything would come in time but he was willing to wait and see where life was leading him, but that wasn’t necessarily something he was good at. “You just wait, it’ll come.” She squeezed his hand again then closed her now-empty Tupperware and stood up. “I’ve got a meeting with Beth Callahan to go over her secret service declarations. I’ll see you this evening. Oh, I’m so excited.” She actually squealed and grinned before turning and heading off.

Seth spent the next considerable amount of time moping and working, at least until Lyor and Kendra came to collect him. Once he let go of his moping he actually did have a good time. Trey did plan a good date and getting to see Kendra being so happy with someone was nice, so was seeing Lyor’s bowing stance, rolling the ball between his legs. Seth laughed every time and it was apparently noticed by the end. “Have you stopped laughing yet?”

“Your bowling technique is terrible. It’s no wonder they beat us.” Trey and Kendra hadn’t just beaten them, not really. They’d been annihilated but it had been hilarious. Mostly because they learnt that Kendra really couldn’t bowl, but with Trey’s help got better as the night went along.

“Hey, I was scoring well. You were the weak link.” Lyor pouted which Seth found even more adorable. A few months ago, even, he probably would have found it annoying but he’d been entirely wrong about Lyor and he was glad that they had finally accepted this connection between them as being more than what was on the surface. “I got twice as much as you!”

“I was too busy laughing to concentrate,” Seth admitted and burst out laughing again remembering the way Lyor bowled. Lyor just pouted a little more sitting beside him for a moment. They were done but Trey and Kendra were still entirely wrapped up in themselves and Seth was actually enjoying watching it. He had even managed to talk to Trey for a while, which had been nice.

“Think they even realise we’re still here?” Lyor asked after a few seconds of watching them, clearly not as happy about just waiting it out as Seth himself was. He was just happy for their best friend. She was happy and Seth was glad that she had managed to get herself to this point given he knew that she had been afraid of messing everything up.

“I doubt it. You call a cab, I’ll tell them we’re going.” He squeezed Lyor’s hand and nodded a little. Giving him an excuse to scamper away before Seth interrupted. He then stood up and clapped Trey’s shoulder and smiled between the two people who had been entirely wrapped up in whatever their conversation had been. “Hey, Trey thanks for a great evening.”

“Are you going already?” Trey asked, pulling away and standing to Kendra’s side, though Seth noticed his arm was still gently around her. The two of them couldn’t seem to resist touching each other when they were in the same general area. It was really very sweet, and they were definitely made for each other.

“It’s almost 11 and we still have senior staff at 8.” Seth was happy to use that as an excuse, even if it was still a few days before the new chief of staff started officially. It meant that Aaron was running the meetings and Seth didn’t like to be late for those, and Lyor liked a set amount of sleep. “You know Lyor. Must have at least 6 hours of sleep.”

“He is a little anal about that.” Kendra frowned then came over to him and wrapped her arms around him. Seth was thankful that he had one friend that was as happy about hugging as he was. “Thanks for coming.” She said quietly, and Seth made sure that Trey couldn’t see what he was saying before he thought of what to say next.

“Trey’s great, Ken. I see why you like him.” He muttered quietly giving her a tighter squeeze before pulling back and smiling. “See you tomorrow.” He told her before shaking Trey’s hand and turning to leave. He didn’t need to see what Trey and Kendra would be like now they didn’t have other people with them.

“Yeah, he likes you.” He heard from behind him and smiled at that. Of course, that would be something that Kendra said, but it was something that he had wanted Trey to know. Especially since Lyor hadn’t really seemed to warm up to him at all. Seth wanted them both to know that they had his support, as that would bring Lyor’s along with it eventually. He started back through the alley looking for Lyor, finding him standing outside the door, leaning against the wall.

“They okay with us leaving?” That was really a very unnecessary question. Seth was fairly sure that they’d be heading off themselves soon. He didn’t need to answer really, a look was enough to let Lyor know exactly how okay they were. Though Seth was fairly sure Kendra would be a little sorry Lyor hadn’t said goodbye. “Of course they were. You seemed to be getting along with Trey.”

“He’s a good guy, Ly, and he makes her happy. Isn’t that the most important thing?” Seth asked. He thought that all anyone could want was for their friends to be happy. That reminded Seth of what Kendra had said earlier and he just took a breath and decided that this was a good time to let it out, as at least he could get the cab to drop him off at home if it didn’t go well. “I know I’ve been bugging you about what this is and I realise that that doesn’t really matter. It is what it is and we can clarify it when you’re ready.”

“Thank you,” Lyor replied and Seth just froze a moment, he wasn’t really sure what possessed him but he leant forward and went to kiss Lyor but he thought better of it and moved a little to kiss his cheek, though it ended up being more at the corner of his mouth. They were then both silent for a second waiting for the cab until Lyor spoke almost silently, and they were the best words Seth could have imagined. “Thank you for that too.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still at Download Festival! If you want to see how it's going here, find me on twitter and instagram @ShinRhino

Trey had enjoyed their bowling the night before but he really wasn’t all that sure that Seth and Lyor had actually liked having him around. Or at least whether Lyor minded having him around. Seth seemed to loosen up over the course of the night and they’d had some good chats. He wanted them to like him, other than her mother Seth and Lyor were the most important people currently in Kendra’s life. “So, you think they liked me?” He looked at her as she shifted a little against his chest and smiled.

“I think Seth likes you. Lyor is… well he’s Lyor.” That wasn’t exactly reassuring for Trey, but he felt Kendra push herself up a little and kiss the underside of his chin. That was enough to make him look down and smile softly. It was so easy to forget how lucky he was sometimes, but he was trying not to do that here. He leant his head down and kissed her softly then smiled as she carried on talking. “I don’t think he likes many people straight away.”

“From everything I’ve been told he liked you right away.” Trey smirked, letting himself slide down the bed again so that he could wrap his arms around his girlfriend and hold her closer to him. They woke up early now so that they could do this before she rushed them both off to the White House. “Right from your first day, so I’ve been told…”

“I’m clearly special.” She laughed, resting her head on the pillow next to his as they spoke. He liked that he got to lay here and watch her think, watch her work things out. All of it reminded him that he had fallen for her and really should think about telling her. “No I just… realised his strengths a little easier than some others. He’s a good guy to have in your corner.”

“No doubt.” Trey could believe that, he wasn’t sure that Tom would have kept him around if he wasn’t. Lyor wasn’t the easiest person to work with, from what he could tell. It seemed to be even harder given that Trey needed to win them over as their best friend’s boyfriend. “I just know how much they both mean to you and I’m worried that they aren’t going to approve of me.”

“You should worry more about my mother.” Kendra smiled and that suddenly reminded Trey that he had agreed it was time he finally meet her. Kendra already knew his entire family, so she didn’t have to win anyone over, but he knew that Judith Daynes had had a hard life and was protective. He wasn’t sure how he could win her over.

“Shit, we have dinner with her next weekend, don’t we?” He hoped that Kendra knew he was looking forward to it. It felt like the last step they needed to take before he could finally admit that they were as serious as he wanted them to be. Trey didn’t want to say anything to prematurely but he knew what he wanted from this, and that was someone in his life forever. “Meeting your mom.”

“Yes we do.” She looked excited about it and slid a little closer to kiss him a few times before she groaned and Trey already knew that he was going to hate what she was about to say. “I have to work late tonight so you should probably stay at your place.” Yup, he’d been right, he did hate what she was saying.

“My place is a room in the residence. I much prefer staying here.” There was a reason he’d been here almost every night. They hadn’t exactly been taking things slowly, hell he’d been helping her pack the house up, getting ready to move. “I could come home and cook for you for when you get home?”

“That is tempting I admit.” She smiled and Trey took the break in speech to kiss her a few times, trying to stop her finishing whatever thought she was having. Maybe if he stopped her she would just agree that he could come home and cook for her. He just didn’t want to have to leave her alone. “But you need to spend some time with your brother and Penny and especially Leo.”

“I still have two months before Leo leaves for Stanford, I have plenty of time.” Sure, his nephew was going to be a continent away but at the same time he needed to have some independence and Trey was sure that he’d love it. It wasn’t as though he was never going to see him again. The truth was that he didn’t want to spend the night away from her, he’d gotten used to having her by his side. “I want to be with you, Ken.”

“Trey…” She scolded softly and shook her head while stroking his cheek. He knew that that was her way of saying that there was no way they could change this but he was still going to hope that maybe he would be able to change her mind. Mostly because he didn't want to spend time apart now that he had found someone he wanted to be with.

He rolled his eyes but smiled, turning it into a joke even if that was the last thing he wanted to do right now. The last thing he wanted to do was push Kendra away right as he thought they might both be ready to move this to the next level. “Alright, fine, but you will miss out on a Trey Kirkman special.” He grinned and leant over to kiss her softly

“Something you’d get out of my cookbooks?” She asked after a few seconds and he had to admit that it probably would be. He still hadn't quite gotten to grips with the vegan cooking yet, though he realised now that even when he wasn't eating with Kendra he was avoiding meat and dairy. She'd really gotten under his skin quick.

“I like the black one with the not-meat burger on the front.” He smirked, and it was the one with the clearest instructions, on top of that he appreciated the author's sarcasm. It was no wonder than in only a few months it had become the most work out one on Kendra's shelf. After another minute he dropped his forehead to her shoulder and complained again. “I’ve gotten used to waking up next to you.”

“You’ll survive for one night.” She grinned and Trey took the silence they both slipped into as an opportunity to start kissing her again. If he wasn't going to see her tonight he was definitely going to take advantage of the fact that they had the morning together now. “Trey I have to get up for work.” She mumbled once he moved his lips to her jawline, which just made Trey smirk.

“I have an in with your boss you can be a little bit late.” If Trey said it was his fault Kendra was late, Tom was automatically going to cover his ears and pretend that she had been on time all along. It was the very definition of a win/win situation. At least it was for him. “Ken you have to work tonight let’s take advantage of what time we have now.”

“You’re going to end up getting me in so much trouble.” She muttered but with the lack of pulling away Trey was going to guess that he'd won and he was going to get to keep his girlfriend in bed for a little while long. Though, it ended up being considerably more than _a little_ later and they only actually got out of bed once Seth had text asking if she'd overslept.

Trey would admit. He'd forgotten that Seth and Lyor were driven in too. They didn't question why Kendra was late, but he was sure that when he left the three of them after giving Kendra a chaste kiss it was going to be a different matter. Instead, he was heading up to the residence to try and keep it all running and to make sure that Penny and Leo got their homework done. It was giving him some time to work through the backlog of emails and Kendra's social media posts too, as they were both behaving today. “Uncle Trey?”

“What’s up, Little Pea?” He asked, immediately putting everything down and turning all his attention to his niece. He knew she didn't get as much attention as she probably needed these days, and so he was determined to try and let her know that she could come to him about anything. 

“Are you gonna marry Kendra?” Well, that wasn't the question he was expecting and he didn't actually know how he was going to answer that. Trey had been in love with Kendra Daynes since the minute Tom had introduced them. He'd known then that he wanted to marry her if he could ever have the chance. He strongly doubted, then, that he would have ever got that chance.

“I… we’ve only been dating a few weeks P.” He tried to deflect her question, he didn't want to say yes or no since he didn’t think either were right. Kendra was special, he'd known that all along, and even though her taste in music was terrible, she had completely changed his diet in a month and he wouldn't change a single thing about her, but there were still so many questions in his mind.

“I know but you like her, right?” Penny saw things the way an eleven-year-old would, and Trey understood that she wanted it to be black and white, but it wasn't and he didn't believe in lying. He needed to try and placate her or distract her with something else. There was a reason for these questions, he was sure.

“I like her a lot but we still haven’t been dating that long.” It had been a month, that was it, even if it did feel longer when he was missing her. The fact he was missing her after only a few hours told him everything he needed to know, but Trey wasn't going to push Kendra any faster than she was ready. "We need some more time. Then we'll know."

“How long will you need before you know?” The questions weren't going to stop, it seemed, and Trey wondered if this was how it would be if he was dating anyone else. The kids had already known Kendra, had a relationship with her even if it was only as Tom's lawyer. Would Penny be as interested if she hadn't known the woman beforehand?

Trey paused at that and realised he didn't have an answer to either question, so it was time to try and change the subject, turn it back onto Penny so that he would be able to figure out why this was suddenly so important and try to ignore the fact that he didn't have a single clue. “What brought all this up, sweetheart?”

“I just really like having a girl back around.” Penny whispered sadly looking at the floor and Trey had to clamp his mouth shut at his initial reaction to that. Of course having Kendra around would be something that mattered to Penny, she'd been without a female influence since Alex died. “There are too many boys and I like that Kendra can braid my hair properly.” Now that was just sweet, but Trey was still having to try and not show how heartbroken he still was at his family suffering the way they did. “She also makes you and daddy both laugh, and I don’t see daddy laughing much anymore.”

“Pen, we don’t need to get married for Kendra to be here.” Trey said, pulling Penny onto his knee and wrapping his arms around her. “I love her and I want for her to be around us all for a long time, but marriage is a really big step.” Did he just tell his niece that he was in love with Kendra before he'd actually told Kendra?

“So… you’re not going to marry her now but maybe one day?” How Penny had gotten that from what he said he didn't know, but he did want to marry Kendra and one day was infinitely more possible than saying soon or any other measurement of time. Maybe they would, one day.

“Maybe one day.” How he wished he could be more specific, but he couldn't, instead he just wrapped his arms back around Penny and gave her a squeeze, causing the little girl to let out a squeal. Trey couldn't promise much, but there was one thing that he could tell Penny that would mean she was always in the loop. “I’ll let you know if that changes, okay?”

“Okay.” She seemed to be placated with that offer, for which Trey was eternally grateful. Maybe it would stop Penny asking these questions, especially on the nights when Kendra was here with them. It was a conversation he didn't think should be rushed by the eleven-year-old. “She’s really cool.”

“She is, isn’t she? Shall I invite her up for dinner tonight?" Penny didn't actually give him much choice when she squealed and nodded forcefully. Kendra was very cool, Penny was right about that too. “I’ll call her.” He laughed and kissed Penny's head. He knew that Kendra had said she was working tonight but maybe she would be able to spare herself for dinner, tear herself away from her job to have dinner with people who cared about her. Trey would even cook so she didn't miss out on the meal he'd promised her that morning.

Thankfully, she could get away, and dinner had been lovely with all five of them, then of course Penny had pulled Kendra off to do whatever she wanted a woman for and that left Trey and Tom doing the dishes. Tom didn't seem as happy about Kendra's presence in the home as Penny and even Leo had been. “You invited Kendra for dinner?” It was phrased as a question but Trey knew better than that. Tom may have approved of their relationship, begrudgingly, but Trey felt like he still thought it was going to be a giant mess.

“Penny’s request.” He tried to explain because he knew that Tom would be more accepting of that. Trey would have invited her anyway, if he told the truth, but he was glad he had another reason. “She likes having a woman around the place. I can’t say I entirely blame her. Kendra is amazing.” Alright, he was bragging but he really wanted to show Tom that this was different.

“So, it’s going well?” Tom asked, taking the plate that Trey held out and quirking an inquisitive eyebrow. Trey remembered that from when he was in high school and Tom had already been settling down. It was the look that made him wonder if her was ever going to have what Tom had. Now he knew.

“Yeah.” He grinned, looking over his shoulder to make sure that Kendra wasn't anywhere nearby before speaking again. “Tom she’s the one I’m going to marry, I know she is.” He'd been thinking about it constantly since Penny had brought it up and watching Kendra through dinner tonight he'd realised that he didn't want to picture a day when they weren't together. He'd never been serious about anyone in his life, but he knew this was it.

“Marry?” The inflection in Tom's voice was both sceptical and dismissive all at once and Trey could understand why. He had never really been able to settle down before, between the meds never being quite right or just the general confusion that had come before his diagnosis he'd never known why he wasn't settled, but now he knew and more than that he knew that Kendra would support him with everything that he needed.

He just needed to make Tom realise that he was serious about it. This wasn't just some passing fancy. He knew that Tom and Alex had fallen for each other quickly too, and there was something Tom had said once that Trey hadn't understood until that day he met Kendra. “You know how you always said you knew the first time you kissed Alex that she was going to be your wife?” He asked, and though Trey hadn't been quite that certain about Kendra, he had known she'd be important. “That’s how I know. I love her and I want to be with her for the rest of my life.”

“I’m just glad to see you so happy. I don’t think you’ve ever even come close to settling down before.” Finally, finally there was a genuine smile from Tom and Trey thought he might have finally made his big brother see that this was exactly what he wanted. It was true though, Kendra was already by far his longest relationship.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been on more than three dates with the same woman before.” He joked and smiled. He knew that his history was something that would worry people but Kendra's wasn't all that much better. They understood each other and Trey wasn't afraid to let her see the bad parts of him, the hard parts. He knew she'd be there regardless. “But I know that she’s the one, Tom. I know it. She gets me.”

“You’ve been together for a month now, yeah?” When said like that it didn't sound that long, certainly not long enough for him to have decided everything that he had but this was where his life was right now. He was more sure of this than he had been of anything before in his life.

“She’s amazing, but you know that, you hired her.” Trey just nodded about the timescale and instead focused on the fact that Tom had seen something in her too. Sure, not the same as Trey had, but he'd hired her when Alex had thought that he'd never hire a head lawyer and had worked through everything with her since then. Trey would never forget the compassion she had shown him when his mental health problems had been brought up in open court, that was when he knew he needed to ask her out, somehow.

“I did.” Tom nodded and chuckled, still picking up the plates as Trey finished with them. They lapsed into a comfortable silence. Trey felt, for the first time, that Tom was actually supporting him in this decision. That finally Tom could understand that this wasn’t just some fling. When they were finished Tom nodded toward Penny’s bedroom and smiled. “Penny will keep her in there for hours.”

“Kendra won’t mind, believe me.” Trey knew that she wanted a family, soon rather than later when she settled down, and that was something that he thought that he could be happy with. It wasn’t something he’d ever really thought he’d have, but if spending time with Penny was enough for now then he’d keep bringing her here.

He was even more thrilled when she came back to the residence after she’d finished her work. He’d just been planning to text her to check she’d made it home when he felt two hands on his shoulders and recognised the smell of Kendra’s shampoo. “Turns out… I don’t want to spend a night without you, either.” She whispered quietly into his ear, and Trey was thankful at that moment that he’d been sat alone, it made it so much easier to just pull her through to his bedroom and show her exactly how glad he was that she was there with him. As they laid together in the afterglow he felt her fingers spidering across his chest gently. “So, what was dinner really about?”

“Huh?” He asked, not entirely following the jist of her conversation. What made her think that there was anything untoward about dinner. Sure, he’d been kind of insistent when he’d called her and he’d laid it on thick about the fact that Penny wanted her to be there for the evening until she had to work, but he still wasn’t following Kendra’s thoughts.

“Trey… Why?” That wasn’t more specific but at least he could try and formulate some kind of an answer. What that answer would be he didn’t know. He did know that this conversation could only lead to him admitting things he didn’t know if they were ready for. He had told other people how he felt but he hadn’t told her, in truth, he was afraid to in case she didn’t feel the same way.

“Alright.” He leant down and kissed her a few times hoping to distract her before he actually had to say anything, but of course that wasn’t going to work. Kendra did let her eyes slide closed and Trey just enjoyed stretching the moment out longer, avoiding the conversation he didn’t know if he wanted and getting to kiss his girlfriend at the same time.

“Trey, it’s not going to work.” She mumbled when they both broke apart for air. Trey didn’t want to keep this going be he knew that when she turned those beautiful brown eyes on him like this he couldn’t keep dodging her questions, especially not when she stroked his cheek and chest so gently. She knew all his weak spots. “Tell me?”

This was the thing that he wasn’t sure how she was going to take it, but Trey knew he should tell her and let her work through her thoughts without his input. “Penny asked if we were going to get married.” It actually felt even blunter when he said it like that, Penny had been fairly blunt, though.

“Wait… why did that mean you invited me for dinner?” Kendra was still turning everything over in her mind and she narrowed her eyes, her hand still on his chest as he laid to the side of her, his arm still wrapped around her too. “Because Penny asked if we were getting married?”

“Will you let me finish.” He kissed her again then smiled and brushed her hair behind her ear slowly. Laid like this he realised how much he truly loved her. Logically he knew it, but this was something special, something just for them. “She likes having a woman around again. I guess the residence has been rather testosterone-heavy since Alex died.”

“So… you invited me over for your niece?” Trey actually liked the way that sounded even though it wasn’t exactly completely accurate. He definitely had invited Kendra for him, Penny had just given him an excuse that would work better on other people. He had wanted her there. He always did.  

“I’m uncle of the year.” He joked, loving to see Kendra laughing when he spoke. He couldn’t help but kiss her once more, the smile on her face just making him feel even better about all of this. He’d told her and she hadn’t run a mile, maybe she was as deep into this as he was. “She wanted to know if we would get married so you’d stay.”

“And what did you say?” She asked, though at least she didn’t seem to be freaked out by this. Trey had been told that Kendra was unflappable, that she managed to keep her cool in any situation and all of a sudden Trey was realising that that was exactly who she was, always calm. Hopefully she’d stay calm when he repeated what he said to Penny.

“That I love you and wanted you to stay around whether we were married or not.” It was again the most simple thing in the world, and he kissed her neck a few times as he let her absorb those words. Everything that he’d said and everything that he believed. Most of all, how he felt about her.

“Wait… hang on.” Kendra paused but she didn’t move, she just put her finger on his lips and narrowed her eyes slightly as she studied him, then her face split into a wider grin as she repeated part of what he’d said. She looked happy, and Trey knew that he’d done the right thing. “You love me?”

“I love you. I have all along.” Trey had told Tom when he fell in love with Kendra, had mentioned to him how he was so stubborn about everything for Alex’s foundation just so he got to steal some time with Kendra, but he hadn’t told her, and he hoped that this wasn’t coming on too strong. “Since long before we started dating. Since that day Tom introduced us, there in Alex’s foundation.”

“I don’t know what to say to that.” Kendra replied after a second of silence and for a moment Trey was convinced that he really had gone too far, let out too much of himself. He was always being told that he needed to be a little softer, that he couldn’t expect for everyone to feel the way that he did. He should have listened more.

“You could always try reciprocating?” It was mostly a joke, he didn’t want to pressure Kendra if she wasn’t yet ready to tell him she felt the same. He was sure that she’d get there but he wished that she was ready to say it now. He wished that she was able to see him.

“I could, but I like making you sweat about it.” Kendra’s serious face broke into another smiled as she pulled his face down for another series of soft kisses, each one getting a little deeper and lasting a little longer than it’s predecessor. He was almost ready to burst when she opened her mouth again and words that were rapidly going to become his favourites fell from them. “I love you.”

“See, that wasn’t so hard was it?” He laughed, dropping his head to pepper her shoulder with kisses again before he pulled himself away from her skin to focus back on the conversation that they’d been having. It was important that he look at that too because otherwise they wouldn’t finish this conversation. She’d said the important words though.

Kendra pouted as he said that, and Trey had to admit that that was one of the cutest things he’d seen in some time. She was adorable when she did that. He just watched her for a few more seconds before she smirked and shook her head. “I’m not saying it again.”

“I bet I can change that.” He smiled widely and moved to kiss her again, wanting to show her over and over that he loved her more than he could possibly tell her. There was nothing in the world that could change his mind about her, and he hoped that no matter what she felt the same way about him. He just needed to prove it again and again now.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, this chapter took forever because Seth and Lyor were having a drastic disagreement with me about how this chapter was going to end (I've been bitching to Hideous_Sun_Demon for days) but I finally managed to make something that they both agreed with that still kept the essence of my original idea.
> 
> Also thanks to the new As It Is song for the additional inspo. (Look it up, it's called "The Stigma (Boys Don't Cry)".

Lyor really didn’t know what to do and this was not the time to go back to annoying Kendra about his personal life. She had her own that she needed to try and work out. No, he needed someone who’d known him longer. Given there was only one person in the world who fit that bill he had no idea why he was just sitting and staring at her name in his phone. She’d answer, she always did and he was sure that she’d help too, but that wasn’t making it any easier. Eventually, he just bit the bullet and hit the connect button and spoke the second she answered. “I need help.”

“That’s the understatement of this still very young millennium.” Julie’s sarcasm was not exactly what he’d needed but somehow he wasn’t at all surprised by it. Why he hadn’t expected that she’d be sarcastic. He just stayed silent through it all waiting for her to realise that he wasn’t joking about this. “What is it, Lyor?”

“I think I like someone.” He wasn’t going to be more specific than that, but the fact that this wasn’t the first time he’d called her about something like this would let her know that he needed her help to work it all out in his mind. Okay, it wasn’t exactly like this, but it was close enough. He wasn’t as inept now as he’d always been. 

“I’ll be there in 20 minutes,” Julie said, immediately much more sober about the whole thing and Lyor nodded even though she couldn’t see him. He then wanted to glare at himself but that wouldn’t have any effect either. He was really thrown off about all of this. “Meet me at that coffee shop you like.”

“Alright, I’ll be there.” He hung up then grabbed his jacket and started out of the door. He wasn’t sure that he wanted to actually talk about this but he needed to know where he stood with Seth and that wasn’t something that he could work out on his own. As he walked past Tricia on his way out he called out to her, figuring that someone needed to know where he was. “Tell Aaron I’ll be back in an hour. I’m taking an early lunch.”

“You have a meeting with Kendra.” Dammit, he’d forgotten about that, though he would just catch up with her later, they were just going over the recent bills that the White House was reviewing and he was sure that she’d be fine with having a long lunch, assuming that she’d use it to go and spend more time with Trey.  

“Tell her I’m seeing Julie and we can do it later.” Kendra, at least, would accept that this was a step in the right direction for him. With everything that had happened, he guessed that he just needed to know that this was actually something that mattered to him and it wasn’t all some sort of delayed trauma reaction. 

“She’ll understand?” Tricia asked a little more hesitantly and Lyor almost paused in his stride to tell her that it was something urgent. He wasn’t actually sure that Tricia had any idea who Julie was and he didn’t have the time to explain his strange relationship with his ex-wife. There was nothing that she needed to know anyway.

“I hope she will.” He said quietly as he walked away. Kendra wasn’t the type who would take it out on someone who was just the messenger, thankfully, but he was more worried about how much she’d go on about it when he got back later. It would be worth it for them both though as he knew that Kendra really wanted for him and Seth to work out their relationship so that she didn’t need to be a couples counsellor anymore.

Lyor power walked through the streets to the coffee shop, hoping that his general demeanour would discourage anyone who knew him or wanted something from the White House from approaching him as he really didn’t have the time for any of their petty concerns right now. As soon as he walked in he saw Julie and smiled seeing her with her usual slice of cake. “I haven’t seen you since you got back from Taurasi.” She said by way of greeting, sliding a coffee to Lyor. 

“I’ve been busy, the chief of staff resigned.” That wasn’t the only thing but he wasn’t going into everything else that was going on at work as he was certain that Julie didn’t actually care all that much. She was here because he needed her help and he was actually obsessing about this situation in ways he hadn’t in a long time. 

“I remember Emily. A bit pushy.” That was definitely one characterisation of Emily, one he knew that Kendra would have agreed with. Lyor didn’t really know what had gone on between the two women but after a rough spell they’d seemed to be getting back on track, then it had all gone stale again before Emily resigned. “We all know she resigned though. It wasn’t exactly a state secret.” 

“No, but I never know how much attention you pay.” That was a bit of a low blow but he couldn’t help it. Mostly he was doing it to see if she could still take his form of acerbic humour as well as she used to be able to. That would make this conversation much easier. When they met up recently they hadn’t really spoken about anything serious. 

“Ouch!” Julie grinned a little and sipped at her coffee. Not offended, that was a good sign. She wasn’t going to find anything that Lyor said to be too much if she could cope with that. Clearly, he was too quiet as she took the initiative about the conversation they were here for. “So who is this person you like, it’s not Kendra is it?”

“No. Well… I mean, I do like Kendra but not as a potential romantic partner. She’s probably my best friend other than you.” There was a time when he could have seen Kendra that way, and he thought that maybe she was thinking the same thing but it had passed and they had gone in very different directions. “Besides, she’s dating Trey Kirkman.”

“The President’s brother?” Julie asked surprised at that, brushing over the rest of what he said. He knew that she and Kendra had had to spend some time together while they were sorting out the annulment and they’d become friendly. “That’s an interesting development. I’ll have to text her later. But who is it you’re… wait romantic?” It was as though Julie had slammed the breaks on in her mind. 

“Yes.” He said watching her reaction. She didn’t laugh like he’d expected, instead just tilted her head and looked at him as he felt the need to clarify it. “I like someone… romantically. Someone I’d like to have a relationship with. I guess I  _already_  have a relationship with.” He knew that Seth wanted it to be a relationship anyway. Lyor still wasn’t sure what he was going to classify it as.

“I kind of just assumed you liked someone in general and were worried about it.” Julie smiled as she told him what she’d been thinking. He just stared at her for a few moments and frowned a little. “Come on you gotta admit, you don’t like people very much. Is it someone you work with?” 

“It’s Seth.” He blurted it out the moment that he was given the chance. He didn’t realise until he said it how desperate he’d been to say that that was who it was, and he wanted to say how he felt about Seth too but he didn’t know how to verbalise it yet. It wasn’t something that he was good at.

“The press secretary?” She smiled at that and now came the chuckle that he’d been expecting some time ago. She did at least look like that was not something that she was surprised about, and she looked happy about it too. “Well, he is your type. Tell me what’s going on Lyor?”

“I just… don’t know what to do.” Lyor admitted then took a deep breath and laid out everything that had happened between them over the last year, when he got to the end he knew that Julie would see why she was needed. “He told me it’s no pressure, he’s not going to make me clarify what’s going on between us, but I know he wants to put a name on it “

“What do you want?” That seemed like too simple a question and Julie was clearly expecting an answer but Lyor honestly didn’t know. He wanted everything to be simple. He wanted to know what it was coming in the future. He wanted to believe that there was a simple answer to any of this but none of that was possible so he didn’t know. 

“I want to pretend that I know what I want.” He said quietly and shook his head, watching as Julie sat back and invited him to keep speaking, saying whatever it was on his mind. “We were together in Taurasi before the tsunami, and when he was missing I realised how much he meant to me and since we got back we’ve barely spent a night apart. It’s been almost a month and I just don’t know if I’m comfortable yet.”

“Lyor, we got married because you were going to London, until that moment I wasn’t sure how you felt for certain. When we got the annulment I told you that being with those people was the closest to comfortable I’d ever seen you.” Lyor remembered that conversation and he hadn't at all been sure how he felt about anyone here then. “When was the last time you were comfortable?”

“That night with you.” He could admit that, though he wasn't sure if that was what Julie actually wanted to hear. Comfort wasn't something that he had ever had cause to feel. He didn't know how anyone actually felt comfortable most of the time. So many things could go wrong. “Comfortable is not a familiar state of being for me.”

“Because you never allow yourself to be comfortable! You search out disaster long before it’s ever going to happen. The fact you actually  _have_  a friend in Kendra means that you’re already starting to loosen up.” Julie smiled and finished off her coffee which was when Lyor realised his coffee was starting to go cold. 

Lyor wasn't sure that he'd go that far, though he would admit that how close he and Kendra had gotten, and how quickly, had been a surprise to him. Truthfully the same could be said of Seth, but despite everything Lyor sometimes still wasn't sure about Seth's thoughts on him. He did know Kendra's though, and he didn't actually mind. “She tolerates my eccentricities.”

“Believe me, she more than tolerates them. She likes you Lyor, she considers you a friend.” How did Julie know this? Was it just something that she knew through some sort of intuition or had she and Kendra actually spoken about him. “I don’t know Seth, but I would guess that he likes your eccentricities too.” Julie smiled and reached out to squeeze his hand. “You said you think you like him so what’s stopping you? And you aren’t allowed to say something might go wrong.”

“But it might.” He argued, but at the look Julie gave him he stopped and thought of a real answer. Focusing on the thing that was actually worrying him the most about any potential relationship. Anything that went beyond a friendship into something that was much more intense. “I don’t want to hurt him… or for him to tire of me.”

“That’s the risk we all take. Look at the relationships around you, everyone takes that risk. What you need to decide is whether Seth is the one you want to take that risk on.” Julie was just watching him as he thought about that and Lyor realised that that was a question he already knew the answer to. He'd known ever since that flight home from Taurasi.

“And if he is?” He asked quietly because he needed for Julie to tell him that he would be okay no matter what. Why was this something that he didn't understand and why was it so easy for some people to navigate things like this. Lyor didn't know how he was supposed to handle all this without guidance and it was strange for him to need that given how controlled he was about his work. 

“Take it slow but start letting him in." That was the scariest thing of all, but she was right. He needed to open up to Seth, at the very least. "Start telling him how you feel and  _clarify_  your relationship for what you want it to be.” Clarification. Wasn't that exactly what Seth had been wanting all along. He knew that she was right, and he knew now that he needed to think about it himself.

“How is Callum?” He turned the conversation around to Julie and her relationship, deciding that it was time that Julie actually answered some questions. Lyor had met Callum and actually liked Julie's boyfriend. He seemed to be a good person and he was a good match for Julie. 

“Building a boat. I have no idea why, but he’s building a boat, I am avoiding the garage for this reason.” Julie laughed and Lyor actually thought that it was great that they had an agreement about how that was going. There was also a lot that Lyor could think to say about the fact he knew how to build a boat and he decided to go the weirdest route that he could.

“Knowing how to build a boat could be a helpful skill for when the apocalypse happens. Tell Callum I appreciate this.” Alright, maybe not the weirdest he could have been but it was all that he felt like today. Maybe all the worries about his situation with Seth had stolen some of his ability to pick strange things to focus on. 

“I will, you should start considering getting back to work. So should I, for that matter.” Julie was polite about saying that she needed to go and Lyor just looked up and nodded. “Talk to Seth and try and stop being afraid of the future, Lyor. It’s coming whether you like it or not.” With that pronouncement, she left her half of the bill on the table and set off out. He stayed sat there for a few minutes then got up to leave too, leaving enough on the table to cover it and motioning to the waitress so she knew.

His walk back to the White House was slow as he needed to think before he potentially saw Seth. He didn't know how he would manage if he saw Seth before he was ready to accept his thoughts, but he knew that he needed to get this through his head. If he wanted Seth to be in his life he was going to have to open up. He was still debating when he walked back into the West Wing and he allowed his feet to take him where they wanted. "Hey, what's wrong?" He heard, and when he looked up he realised he'd wandered straight to Seth's office. The second he realised that Lyor just stepped up to Seth and pulled him into a tight hug, holding him close for a few seconds before just stepping away and going back to the door. "Lyor!" He heard called and he just turned back and smiled.

"I'll see you later." Alright. He hadn't expected for that to be the result of the conversation with Julie but now that he'd done it Lyor didn't actually regret it. This was the turning point in his realisation that he didn't need to let go of who he was to let Seth in, and Julie was right. This was probably actually the most comfortable he'd ever been, and it was time he embraced that.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic has basically become my official attempt at writing a third season. At least in terms of these characters. I will be picking up threads with everyone else, but the primary focus of the fic is going to be Trey/Kendra and Seth/Lyor. 
> 
> It's also a lot easier for me to write, right now, than "Okay." - I adore Okay and will be back on it soon, I'm going to try and focus on this for a little while and just pick at the other.

Today was already shaping up into being the busiest morning she'd had in a long time. It seemed like the press had decided that the way to greet the new Chief of Staff was to bring up the rumours about why Emily had resigned to begin with and given that it involved potential interference with the Supreme Court, Kendra had to be more involved than she'd intended. This was the third day of the rumours, but now someone was on the record and that was making everything much more difficult. “Morning Kendra.” She heard from behind her and paused a little, slowing so that the much shorter new Chief could catch her up.

“Good morning.” She smiled when Beth actually fell into step with her. Kendra hadn't realised how fast they all moved around the building until she actually had to consciously slow her footsteps so that she didn't stride away. “Learning your way around?” While it initially seemed like the West Wing would be easy to navigate, Kendra had realised on her own first day that it was actually horribly difficult until you were used to it.

“It’s only my third day, I didn’t accidentally walk into the President’s study this morning though.” Beth laughed at that, at least, which made Kendra feel like she could laugh as well. It was always hard to learn the boundaries with a new boss, but it would happen. “It’s still weird calling him that.” She shook her head and Kendra was sure that it was a change given how long Beth had apparently known him. “You look cheerful this morning?” It was a sarcastic question, Kendra was sure, but it was probably better that she didn't mention how stressed she was right now.

“Good start to the day." That was a straight lie but Kendra wasn't actually sorry for it. Though her morning before she came in had been pretty good. She'd woken up with Trey beside her, they'd made breakfast together and she'd felt like she had a reason to get home from work. Especially now that her place was almost entirely packed up and she was going to be able to move as soon as they gave her the keys. "How are you settling in?” Mostly Kendra wanted the attention to be off of her.

“I think I’m finding my way around, as you said,” Beth confirmed and smirked a little as she clearly thought of something else to ask. “Did you arrive with two other members of the senior staff and Trey Kirkman this morning?” That was not what Kendra had been expecting and this was definitely going to be a test of what kind of boss Beth Callahan was going to be.

“Oh… I… Yeah, yeah I did." There was clearly no point in lying about this, Beth had either heard about it or seen it with her own eyes. She had to make the decision of how she explained Trey being with her. Since their relationship wasn't exactly a secret she decided that it would be easiest to just be honest. Tell the truth about him and deal with any fallout if she had to. "I pick up Lyor and Seth on my way to work and Trey… is my boyfriend.”

“Does the President know you’re dating his brother?” Beth asked, though there was still the same playful smirk on her face. It seemed like she didn't actually care all that much. At least not professionally. Maybe she was the type that just liked gossip, which was going to be interesting. Emily hadn't been against gossip, but she often hadn't gone looking for it.

“Yeah, I mean. It’s only been a few weeks.” Just over a month, that was hard to believe already but at the same time, Kendra couldn't believe that was all too. There were some things that should be off limits with a superior and how she felt about her boyfriend was something that was in that comfort zone for her just yet. “I’ll admit, I’m going to enjoy having a boss I can gossip with still.”

“Especially one who has been married _forever_. I’m living vicariously through you.” Beth laughed again and Kendra felt herself loosening up. There was something about realising exactly how different Beth actually was from Emily that made things easier. “Trey was always interesting to me, I only met him a few times.”

Kendra knew that eventually she and Trey were going to have to talk about what it was that had led to such a long estrangement between the two of them, but she would wait to bring that up until they'd been together longer. Both Trey and the President were good people, and it seemed like it must have been the biggest misunderstanding in history. “Trey's a great guy. I feel very lucky.”

“And the sex?” Beth asked and Kendra just paused in her steps and looked at her for a second. That was the last thing that she would have expected out of a boss but she actually quite liked that she had the stones to ask. When Kendra stayed silent Beth didn't take it back and instead tried to justify the question. “Married, give me something. Please.”

“Exactly as you’d imagine,” Kendra answered and then watched Beth as she stayed silent. It was only then that Kendra realised what she'd said and probably what was going through Beth's mind. That was not what she needed. It wasn't what any of them needed. “Hey don’t imagine sex with my boyfriend.”

“You opened that up." Beth defended with a smirk and Kendra had to laugh this time. Beth had done what it was now clear she had set out to do, establish a rapport between them that would make it easier to work together. Kendra was actually really very impressed with her ability. "It's not going to be a problem, right? You and Trey?"

"No. I can keep my personal life separate." She reassured as it was definitely a reasonable question. If it was anyone else on the staff she'd be asking the same question too. Kendra thought about how she could return the attempt to build up a rapport and she realised that Beth's marriage was exactly the right thing to ask about. "Exactly how long have you been married?"

"Since 2002." Alright, that was considerably longer than Kendra had been expecting. She didn't actually believe that Beth was old enough to have been married for sixteen years, but it was not the most unbelievable thing right now. It also didn't seem appropriate to ask that. Thankfully they reached her office and she was saved from making that particular decision. “I’ll see you in twenty for senior staff.”

Kendra just nodded and went to work. There was so much that she needed to do, and even after senior staff she still wasn't sure the direction that they were going to take. She supposed that was mostly Seth's problem, Kendra just needed to make sure that none of them were going to be put in prison for it. She was less than impressed when she was thinking about dinner and heard an unwelcome voice from her doorway. “You like the new chief of staff?”

“You’re not supposed to be back here, Simon.” She didn't even want to know why he was there, she didn't want to ask. How he had gotten quite so far into the more restricted area of the West Wing she didn't know, but that was something she'd bring up with Mike later. It was surely a security risk.

“I’m not looking for a quote, Kendra. I’m actually here to give you a heads up about something that could be embarrassing for the administration.” That got her attention. Given the re-election cycle was about to start really heating up there was a lot that could embarrass the administration. Kendra was hoping that this was something they already knew about.

“Alright…” She tried to sound slightly dismissive but motioned for him to sit opposite her. Maybe she should have been more worried when a reporter shut the door to her office, but for some reason it just made her think that he was trying to protect whatever prospective scoop he had. "Speak, Simon." She wasn't as patient as she'd once thought she was.

There was a smirk on Simon's face and that did concern her. She already had a predisposition to dislike him as he was the one that Emily had mostly leaked to and it had made her job so much more difficult. She was about to prompt him again when he said a name that sent ice through her veins. “Damien Rennet.”

“He’s dead, he’s been dead for a couple of months now.” She tried to play that off as nothing important. Damien Rennet hadn't really been a huge story for anyone. He'd been assisting with investigations, he hadn't been honest, he'd been arrested. Almost everything about him was classified by every player in the game.

“Heard he was working for the Russians.” Simon phrased it as though it was gossip and Kendra was almost insulted that he thought that was going to work on her. Sure, she didn't work with the press on as regular a basis as Seth or Lyor, but she wasn't completely inept and she'd been either an attorney or working in government for her entire professional career.

“I have no information on that.” She rolled her eyes, hoping that it seemed she was bored with this entire conversation. The truth was that she wasn't she just really wanted for him to get to the point. “What are you trying to tell me, Simon?” It was better to ask outright than keep playing this game with him.

“Look a little closer into Emily.” Shit. That was the last sentence she needed to hear right now. Especially after Simon had brought Damien up. This meant that he knew a lot more than he was letting on, and seemingly knew more than she and Aaron did. “I’m not the only person she was leaking too. Damien is the link.” Simon then smirked and got up, heading to the door. "Call me when you have a comment, I'll hold the story until I speak to you again."

As soon as she was sure he was actually gone she picked up the phone and dialled the extension for Aaron's office. The second she heard his voice she spoke, hoping that she could convey the urgency. “Aaron… we’ve got a problem. I'll be there in a minute, clear your next hour.” She didn't even wait for his answer before she had hung up and was out the door telling Jamie to reschedule her next two meetings.

“What’s wrong Kendra?” Aaron didn't at all sound impressed about her interruption to his day but she knew that he'd forgive her when he heard what it was that was causing for her to be this cloak and dagger about the whole situation. If it was true that Simon had more than just the snippets of information that were publicly available then they had a problem.

“Simon Day knows about Damien.” She proclaimed as soon as she'd sat down and was comfortable. She didn't mind standing in this office when she was the observer but when she was part of the situation. Hardly anyone in the White House had the clearance to know anything that Simon had said, in fact, Kendra didn't know anyone other than she and Aaron who did have that information.

“What?” Aaron's face reflected the shock that she had felt originally. This was all almost impossible to think about and Kendra really wasn't sure what she was supposed to be doing with this information other than what she was already doing. “That was locked down. Even most of the senior staff don't know fully about Damien.”

“I think we should have learnt by now that nothing is locked down.” Kendra was only a little bitter about it but she wasn't going to blame Aaron for it. It wasn't his job any more than it was hers but the leaks still were hard to stomach. "He must know that Seth and Lyor don't know, too. Otherwise, why would he have come to me?"

"That's a good question. We have to look in my department for leaks." Aaron was clearly not all that happy about what it was that was going through his mind but right now it was probably best that they both kept some things close to the chest since neither of them knew who was listening and after learning about Dax Shepard's listening device in the Oval they were all being more than a little cautious. "It can't be your department since that's just... well... you."

"Yeah." It was a relief that she was automatically above suspicion but there was a part of her that was concerned about her office. She made a mental note to get Mike to have his genius squad go over it and confirm that there were no listening devices in there. Maybe after the therapist it was just paranoia. Then she remembered the comment about Emily and there was a stab of anxiety in her gut. “But he said something that worries me even more.”

“This can’t be good. Go on?” Aaron looked like he was braced for the worst possible news and Kendra had to admit she didn't know if this was actually that bad. She knew that it wasn't going to be good in any way. They were already up against the AG on everything that was going on with Hannah, now they were potentially having to deal with all this too.

“He said we needed to look a little closer into Emily.” She frowned as she said it and realised that on first thought it didn't sound as bad as it could work out being. Maybe Kendra's mind had just gotten used to jumping to the worst-case scenario, as that seemed to be what followed this President around, but she knew in her gut that she was right about this one.

“She’s not… part of the administration anymore.” Aaron tried to reason, but they both knew that at the very least that was a flimsy reason. That was pretty much the same as the defence they were using upstairs about the President's ties to Hannah's less than favourable actions.

“No but the President has her on his re-election committee and Simon said that Damien was the link.” That was the part that was bothering her. She didn't like the idea that Simon was going to tie Emily to Damien, especially if it was true given the explosive issues that could bring up for all of them.

“I’ll see if I can get hold of Hannah Wells.” She was radioactive but she was a good agent so Kendra could understand why Aaron would go straight to her. On top of that, they knew that they could trust Hannah, even if it didn't go her way she would keep investigating. Though there were all the personal issues that Hannah was having right now that Aaron didn't know about.

“She’s dealing with…" Kendra started before managing to stop herself. If Aaron didn't know about the situation with Amy she shouldn't be the one to tell him. What she would do is make sure that she called Hannah first and gave her a heads up, then get her to call Aaron for whatever he was planning. "Let me call her, I’ll see if she thinks she’s ready to come back and do some work for us.”

“What’s going on, Ken?” Aaron asked, concern crossing his face as he realised that there was something happening there that she wasn't telling him about. It wasn't that she didn't want to tell him but it wasn't her place to tell him when it was Hannah's personal business to talk about when she chose.

“Nothing you need to be worried about I swear. I'll get her to call you.” That seemed like it was going to be the best thing, didn’t it? That way Hannah could tell him what she wanted to and Kendra wouldn’t have to worry about breaking confidences. She did need to insist on a few things about Hannah though, she couldn’t officially be connected to the President. Not right now. "Remember, anything with Hannah has got to be under the table. Nothing official on paper and she can't work out of the White House."

Aaron nodded his agreement and Kendra stood up and headed back to her office. She knew that she was going to be working late tonight and she didn’t want to leave Trey waiting for her for hours. It would be better if they just cancelled tonight’s plans, but she hated doing it. She would, for the first time she could remember, rather be with him than here at work. Still, as she punched in his number she hoped he’d be understanding. “Hey, babe. I gotta cancel dinner.”

“ _You sure? I was going to cook._ ”

“I’m sure. I have so much to do.” She hated saying those words. Trey, she learnt, had inherited the ability to cook and he was always trying to show her that he was just as good at cooking as she was. He wasn’t used to cooking without meat, but he was getting there. She closed her eyes and cursed her job as she tried to think of something to say. “I’ll see you tomorrow, though.”

“ _Better believe it, babe. I’ll miss you tonight._ ”

“I’ll miss you too. Bye.” Kendra frowned a little looking at the phone on her desk, she had to fight the urge to call him back and take everything back. Maybe this was a sign that she was far deeper into this relationship than she had thought she was. Instead, she managed to make herself focus on work, focus on the papers in front of her, but she was about ready to throw them in the fire when she heard a knock at the door and looked up to see the mischievous smile of her partner. “Trey.”

“I know I said you were going to miss out on my fabulous cooking but I found a YouTube channel.” He held up a bag and some plates and she realised that he must have cooked something up in the residence for them. She couldn’t help but grin, though she was worried that she was going to have to push him away because she had so much that she needed to get done, and so many meetings.

“I have meetings until late.” She mumbled, watching as Trey put the plates down on her desk and came around it, stopping behind her and placing his hands on her shoulders, starting to rub them in just the way that she liked. She could feel how tight and stressed she was as he kept rubbing them and leant down to kiss the top of her head.

“I know, but I also checked with Jamie and you have half an hour in your schedule for dinner so I came to make sure you actually eat.” Alright, that was the proof that Trey knew her too well. She’d actually entirely forgotten that she’d scheduled a break to eat and would have worked right through it.

“You know me way too well.” She smiled then looked up and let him pull her to her feet and guide her over to the sofa before pulling out dinner with a flourish. She was quite impressed at the spread he’d put on, and she knew that he would have made it so that she could eat everything. “Oh, this looks amazing Trey.”

That cheeky glimmer was back on his face and she felt her bad day dissolving behind her the longer Trey was around her. He had a way of making her feel so much better when she felt like the world was falling down about her ears. She had heard enough from him about he wasn’t normally one to settle down but she was glad that she had broken through that defence mechanism. “Only the best for you, sweet cheeks.”

“No.” She shook her head as he spoke. He was trying out as many endearments as he possibly could, and Kendra didn’t like a single one of them. She actually struggled to think of what it was that she would actually like, but that was not one of them.

“Alright, another one on the list.” He laughed a little then leant over and kissed her deeply before either of them could start serving up their dinner. “Smoochy face?” Of course, he had to make her laugh again. Everything felt so much easier to handle now that she remembered she had someone that wanted to make sure that she was okay.

“Trey I swear to god.” She snorted before pushing him back a little and starting to serve up her dinner. It really did look incredible and she was a little surprised at exactly how much preparation he must have done to get all of this done. He had even brought condiments with him, though she had a feeling that he’d stolen them from the President’s kitchen.

“Hey, if I don’t ask I’ll never know.” That was really his defence? Really? Kendra just shook her head and felt as though her cheeks were going to hurt from smiling as they started to eat. She could get used to this, Trey bringing her an office picnic when she had to work late. She was thinking about that when Trey spoke again. “Hot sauce.”

“That’s not even an endearment.” She laughed at that, though that was one that she had to admit that it felt really nice to actually get to laugh at things like this again. She didn’t remember the last time that she’d had a relationship that had been this open and equal, even if she did feel like she didn’t get to put in as much time as he did.

“No, I mean pass the hot sauce.” Trey snorted and Kendra felt herself blush at that. She reached and grabbed it before handing it to him. She could feel the redness climbing further up her cheeks and tried to let it go, especially when Trey spoke again. "But I think I like it as an endearment, you’re the same colour right now."

"Weirdo." Kendra smiled and leant forward to kiss him. This was the first time she'd ever managed to get this far into a relationship without making a total mess of it all, but somehow Trey had seen through everything and they had ended up being messes in the same ways. It definitely helped her realise that this wasn't quite that unusual. Besides, he'd brought her dinner because she had to work late. That was a sign of how much he cared for her and Kendra knew that she felt the same. For the first time she could ever remember she thought she could see a future... and that future was with Trey Kirkman.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this took longer than i intended because there is a heatwave here in the UK and my muse basically quit for a week. But now NaNo is here and I am focusing on this fic for it. So look forward to more of these idiots!
> 
> Send good thoughts to Manchester, we have two major wildfires burning at the moment. One either side of the area of the city I live in.

It had been a full week since Lyor had randomly walked into his office and hugged him and even now Seth didn’t actually have an answer for it. There were theories but he wasn’t sure that any of them were right. Other than that one hug Lyor hadn’t actually been any different and that was part of what was confusing Seth so much. Whenever he wasn’t working it was all he could think about. He was actually almost thankful for Kendra’s sudden distraction as she caught up with his slow walk through the West Wing. “Hey, what you doing tonight?”

“Nothing, why?” Seth answered that before he’d actually thought about it, but if he was honest he didn’t actually do anything most Friday nights. If he wasn’t here he was with Lyor, and that normally didn’t actually mean they were doing anything. It was nice to be asked to go do something, anyway. Even if it ended up being something he couldn’t do.

“Come to the fair with me and Trey.” Kendra looked both excited and deeply concerned about that and Seth had to wonder what was going on there. In the six weeks since they’d started dating Kendra had seemed to be deliriously happy and Seth was thrilled for her, but today she suddenly seemed like there was something hanging her up.

“How about we go again with ‘why’?” He pressed, hoping that maybe Kendra would open up and tell him what was going on in her mind. He’d admit that they weren’t as close as they had been right now, both of them trying to work out their relationships but he wanted them to still be able to talk about what was going on.

“Because I’m an idiot.” That was not a word that he would normally associate with Kendra Daynes but he wasn’t sure how to argue that with her when she seemed like she was going to be adamant about it. “I always jump in too deep and then panic.” That didn’t sound good, and Seth wasn’t going with them if he was going to watch her end things. There were things that not even he was going to sit through, and Kendra doing something that stupid was not one of them.

“You’re not gonna break up with him, right?” Maybe it wasn’t the best question but he was asking and he decided that he didn’t care all that much anymore. There was a time to tiptoe around a subject and a time to just break the wall down, he decided that this was most definitely the latter.

“What, no!” That was actually a yelp, Seth had made Kendra yelp and he was oddly proud of that. “I really like him, Seth. _Really_ like him.” The implication of that made Seth pause and figure out what she was meaning. Suddenly he felt like they were all around fifteen again, not senior political figures in their thirties.

“And for that you need a chaperone?” Again, he felt twenty years younger and couldn’t remember the last time he’d wanted or needed a chaperone on a date. Kendra was a strange creature at times and he wasn’t going to pretend that he understood how she thought at the best of times, he definitely didn’t when they were both trying to work out their relationships.

“Last time I went to a funfair with a boyfriend I had a pregnancy scare so yeah. I was seventeen.” That was going to be a story that Seth was going to ask for details on at a later date, but right now he decided that just letting Kendra keep going through this was more important. “I need you to just… run interference.” That he could do, and he would bring reinforcements.

“I’m bringing Lyor.” He didn’t make it a question, truthfully he knew that Kendra actually wouldn’t mind that. There was nobody better for running interference than Lyor Boone, even when it came to a personal situation. He wasn’t always the most socially aware, but he was definitely the kind of person that was great when you needed this.

“Great, more the merrier.” Kendra actually did sound like she loved that idea and if the double-dating became a regular thing Seth was sure it could only help them all get used to the situations that they were going through right now. He hoped that he’d be able to talk to her a little about everything he and Lyor were doing, she always had the best insight into the both of them. Her problems were definitely what she needed to work out first.

“You know you’re off the deep end, right?” There was no chance that she didn’t know that she was being a little crazy about this, but Seth felt he would be a bad friend if he didn’t tell her that he’d noticed that she was being particularly strange about this one. Maybe it would spur her into doing something about it.

“Yeah. Thanks Seth.” She squeezed his arm as she walked off along the corridor and Seth realised that he hadn’t given the easiest advice that he could have said all along. Kendra just needed to actually be honest with Trey about what she thought and that was making things so much more difficult for all of them.

“You could just tell him you’re in love with him and want his babies, Ken.” Seth shouted after her, feeling everyone in the general vicinity turning to face him as he did. He didn’t really care right now since he wasn’t the one who was the subject, that was Kendra and she somehow managed to let all that roll off her back in a way that Seth had never been able to do.

“What?” That quietly accented voice was probably the last one that he’d needed to hear right at that moment be he also didn’t really mind. Beth had been here for a week now and she needed to start learning about how strange this place could actually be to work in now or she was always going to be out of place here.

“Nothing. Kendra is just… well, being Kendra.” He rolled his eyes and then lead his new boss into his office, hoping she’d excuse the mess. “What can I do for you, Beth?” He might be open to gossip, but he wasn’t sure that talking about Kendra’s relationship with the President’s brother really counted as gossip.

“This is a really weird place to work.” She said because she actually started talking about what it was she needed to talk to him about. Seth didn’t actually really care all that much about what she was talking about, but he knew that the campaign was going to need this too and given there were no other speechwriters he was going to have to start on campaign speeches now. Not that he really minded that.

Lunch was a quiet affair, and with both Lyor and Kendra being busy Seth found himself in the mess alone, looking at a picture of him, Emily and Aaron during the first year of the administration. “You know that Emily isn’t coming back to work here, right?” He heard from behind him and looked up to see Aaron standing there, staring at the picture Seth was holding.

“I know. She was still my friend, our friend, and I miss her.” Seth didn’t think he’d actually said that at all recently. He hadn’t even said that after their relationship had ended. Granted he’d seen her almost every day, but still, he’d never actually missed her. Until right now, when most of the staff were too busy for lunch, he didn’t think he had actually missed her at all.

“I miss her too but I think this was for the best.” Aaron didn’t sound entirely genuine about missing her, but at least he sat down and made Seth feel less like he was eating alone. That was the one thing that Seth hated doing more than anything else in the world. “Has Kendra told you some of the things she was doing?” That was a more open question than Seth liked, especially given the sheer amount of information that Kendra had passing her desk on any given day.

“I knew about the leaking to Simon Day, and that she framed me for it, essentially.” It had stung when that had been confirmed but he still cared about Emily and even now he wanted to believe that she had had a good reason, but as Seth looked at him he realised that that clearly wasn’t all there was to it. “What is it, Aaron?”

“There may be more to it than just leaking to the press.” That wasn’t at all what Seth had been expecting. Given the unresolved history there had always been with him and Emily he’d just assume that there would be something that happened after they’d broken up. This sounded a lot more serious than that and Seth didn’t like the implications. He didn’t like the implications at all.

“Wait, what?” He froze entirely, hoping that Aaron would wait for his mind to catch up with the conversation they were having. It felt like it was all too deep and much more than he was supposed to know but if Aaron was letting this slip then it had to be serious, right? It had to be something that could cause them all trouble. “Emily may have done _what_ more than leaking to the press? Leaking?”

Aaron’s face was a journey through every expression of regret Seth could imagine but he hoped that that wasn’t because he’d mentioned something. “I can’t tell you more than that, it’s classified and up to Kendra when it’s to be shared around so… talk to her.” Kendra would be in charge of something like that but when it came to Emily, Seth didn’t want to talk to her about it.

"I'd rather talk to you." As he said that he saw the question on Aaron’s face. There was no doubt that it was confusing for him, especially given that he was closer with Kendra now than he’d been with Emily since March. "Don't get me wrong, Kendra's one of my best friends but she's not... you know. She had issues with Emily." There was no better way to explain his hesitations.

"Didn't she try and help you two stay together?" How did it seem that everyone in the White House knew about all this. Kendra wasn’t the type to actually talk about it and he knew that given the amount of leaking that was going on these days that they could be suspicious of each other forever, but that wasn’t exactly what had happened when it came to Kendra and his relationship with Emily.

"She wanted me happy, she didn't actually like Emily. She especially didn’t actually like me being _with_ Emily but she’s a good friend.” He sighed and thought about the fact that Kendra would always put her own feelings aside when it came to what was best for him and he was being unfair not wanting to talk to her about this. “Anyway tell me.” He kept trying, but Aaron wasn’t the type to change his mind.

“I can’t, Kendra would string me up on a pole outside the East Wing in just my underwear and charge the public to come see me.” That was both a hilarious mental image and something that Kendra would threaten to do. Seth remembered that when he first met her he thought that she was going to be straight-laced. He’d never been happier to be wrong about a first impression.

“It would be entertaining, at least.” He had to admit that he would be paying Kendra money to see that if it ever happened. Especially knowing that Kendra would make sure that he was wearing the most embarrassing underwear that it was possible to buy. Seth wasn’t sure that he knew that he wanted out of this, but if there was something going on he felt like he had a right to know about it.

“Seth… what I will tell you is that it’s bad. Don’t ask Kendra until you know you’re ready to hear it.” Aaron wouldn’t have said that if it wasn’t something terrible, but there was still a part of Seth’s mind that couldn’t believe that their friend could do something that terrible. Especially not something that would require this level of secrecy from their friends.

“Okay…” He trailed off as he kept trying to convince himself that it really wasn’t all that bad, but he knew that this was something that was entirely futile. It was always going to be bad if it was requiring this much thought and secrecy and why his brain wasn’t accepting that Seth didn’t know. He wasn’t naïve, unlike what some people believed, so he just needed to be sure. “Is it really that bad?”

“Yeah. It’s that bad.” Aaron stood up and took his coffee out and back toward his office. Seth didn’t want to think about all that so he was going to keep trying, desperately, to pretend that he didn’t know anything. Once they left work that was considerably easier to do, even if they were with Kendra and Trey. He was thankful that Lyor had just agreed to come along with the minimum of argument.

He very quickly remembered why he and Kendra weren’t going to leave him alone with Trey, they only went to get drinks and came back to Trey staring into the distance with glassy eyes and Lyor in the middle of an animated discussion with, seemingly, himself. “Were you fighting with Trey?”

“We were having a spirited discussion.” Lyor said as Kendra handed Trey his drink and the two of them set off toward the Ferris Wheel, where they had all decided that they were all going to go next. Seth couldn’t actually believe that Lyor thought that was what was happening during that conversation.

“He didn’t look to be getting much say.” Seth laughed and shaking his head a little bit. He hoped that Trey wasn’t taking any of it that seriously, because knowing anything about Lyor should show people that he was always going to talk about something political if he had very little in common with someone. “Did he actually get any say?”

Lyor did manage to look a little sheepish at that but it was only for a second as the two men fell into step a metre or so behind their friends. “Well I don’t think he was actually overly interested in the topic of conversation.” Somehow, Seth had gathered that from that glassy look and the general air of disinterest, but he still wanted to know what they’d been talking about.

“Which was?” He was going to regret asking this. He could tell just from the way that he was thinking now that this was going to be a question he ultimately regretted.

“Immigration reform.” Lyor said quietly pretending that that was the most normal thing to be talking about with someone that was not actually a member of the staff. When Seth stayed quiet staring at him he even had the audacity to pretend that it was shocking that anyone would have a problem with it. “What!?”

“You do realise that he’s not a member of the administration, right?” Pointing that out seemed redundant but it needed to happen, if only so that Seth wouldn’t feel as much like he’d missed something. That was how he felt right now, and purely because he didn’t see the logic in what Lyor had done.

“He has the President’s ear.” If that was genuinely Lyor’s excuse then even Seth wasn’t really buying it. Trey might be able to talk to the President, but that didn’t mean anything would happen there. It was actually a little lucky that Kendra wasn’t listening to this conversation, she wouldn’t like that implication.

“He practically lives with Kendra, which of the two do you think the President is going to listen to about administration matters.” Seth knew that, he’d spoken to Trey about it once when the press had been asking about what influence he actually had over the President. Kendra was always going to be the boss, that was what he’d said. Trey had no interest in politics. “Leave Trey alone.” The queue for the ride whittled down as they waited, Seth standing quietly as he thought about everything that had happened today.

The four of them got into the basket together, Trey and Kendra sitting one side while Seth followed Lyor into the other. They had a while to just sit on it and talk to each other, not that it looked like Kendra and Trey would actually be doing any talking. Suddenly Seth could see how she’d ended up having a pregnancy scare. “Would you… would you ever want to be like that?” Lyor asked haltingly, clearly unsure what question he was actually asking.

“Those two? No.” Seth had never really wanted that kind of physical affection. It worked for their friends, but he wasn’t that interested in this. “I know they are only like this when they feel they are in private with people they trust but still. That’s more public than I’m comfortable with.” Seth looked over to them and almost sighed at the position they had gotten themselves into. “Trey, you can feel her ass at home. You’re going to get arrested.” Kendra had the good manners to blush as she moved back to sit beside her boyfriend, though they went back to paying very little attention again. At least now they were talking rather than grabbing at each other.

“What are you comfortable with?” Lyor suddenly asked after a few seconds of silence and Seth had to think that through. Comfort wasn’t exactly his default position, but if he had to think of a level that he would like to be at, he just wanted small things. He didn’t need anything over the top.

“I’d been happy just getting to hold hands ever so often.” His last few relationships had never really gotten there. It had happened once with Emily and to this day Seth was sure she’d been using it as a way of convincing him to do something she wanted. Talking about it wasn’t the easiest thing, though.

“Really?” There was a shock in Lyor’s voice that Seth hadn’t expected. Maybe it was because in Lyor’s previous relationships it had been all or nothing, or maybe that was just what Lyor had expected Seth to be like, but neither of those things were true. At least they were talking about this now.

“Yeah.” He smiled as they paused at the top for a few seconds. He was looking out at the lights of the city as he suddenly felt a warm hand slip into his, the fingers threading between his as they did. He then just looked down to where Lyor was holding his hand gently and felt his smile growing further. This was perfect, and he could focus on enjoying nights like this now he realised what was going on. Lyor was trying to show that he was all in too, and this was just his subtle way of doing it.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to the State Champs song ["Our Time to Go"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gh0rYcubu04) for being my inspiration for this chapter.

Until recently Trey had thought of himself as a very emotionally mature person. He thought he’d had to be, given all the challenges that his bipolar disorder threw at him. Right now though he was the most confused he thought he’d ever been. He had no idea what to do or how to fix what it was that was bothering him. He needed someone who knew Kendra, and Trey didn’t know Lyor well enough to go there. In fact, Trey was fairly sure that Lyor didn’t like him all that much and so he really didn’t want to get too close there. That really only gave Trey one option, and at least he seemed to be on Trey’s side. “Hey, Seth.”

“What’s up, Trey?” Seth turned his chair and smiled, giving Trey the permission to shut the door and step further in. There was no good way for him to start this conversation and Trey didn’t want it to seem as though he needed relationship help. He needed word help, and he needed to know how his partner was feeling. If she wasn’t at the same point he was this could end in disaster and he didn’t know if he was ready to risk that.

“I need some advice.” That was surely the easiest way to start this conversation. It wasn’t about what was going on really, it was about the advice that he needed and wanted to move this forward. He didn’t want to scare Kendra off, and he didn’t want to still be fighting with these thoughts for days or weeks.

“What did you do?” Seth asked immediately, which just confused Trey a little. Was there a reason that everyone immediately thought that he had done something. Wasn’t there at least one person who would maybe consider that Kendra was the problem? Then again, if Trey was honest with himself, he wouldn’t have thought that either. Apparently, Trey’s silence went long enough that Seth decided to clarify. “People only ever come to me for advice when they have an issue with the press.”

Well, alright that made him feel a little better about it all. “I’m coming to you because you’re one of Kendra’s best friends and really you’re the only one of her friends I actually know well so…” Trey didn’t want to be stuck like this anymore. He wanted to know what was going on in Kendra’s mind.

“Alright, I’ll repeat but with a different inflection. What _did_ you do?” So now he had made Seth suspicious now. That was the opposite of what he’d wanted. Really he just wanted to make sure that he wasn’t making a bad choice if he started down this road. Was Kendra on the same track that he was.

“I didn’t do anything, that’s part of the problem, I think.” Trey didn’t actually like admitting that. He didn’t like the fact that inaction was the problem. He’d never had that problem before, but he’d also never been in love before. “I don’t know how to take the next step and I was hoping that maybe you would have some sort of insight into the situation.”

“I have my own relationship drama man.” Now that was a surprise. Seth had seemed to be happy the other night when they’d all been out. Trey and Kendra may have always looked like they weren’t paying attention, but they didn’t really miss anything. Trey had seen how happy they looked, well, as happy as Lyor ever looked, and Trey would have thought that they were going from strength to strength.

“Really? You and Lyor looked pretty happy the other night. Anything you wanna talk about?” Trey couldn’t help but offer, even though he wanted to try and figure out what was going on with him and Kendra, he knew that he also needed to be a good friend. He may not know Seth or Lyor very well, but he wanted to be a good friend, still.

“We’re happy it’s just…” Seth froze and Trey just wondered if he had decided against talking about it. It was clear that he wasn’t sure what he was saying, but Trey just gave him the space to say what he was thinking. “We are going at different speeds, I think.” Well, didn’t that sound familiar.

“Oh, so we have the same problem then.” Trey laughed a little, realising that it might not be exactly the same, but it was similar enough that maybe they could work out both their problems at once. “For what it’s worth, and not really knowing Lyor, I think you might be at the same place. At least judging by what Kendra says.”

“What does she say?” Seth looked interested and Trey suddenly realised that maybe Kendra hadn’t actually talked her suspicions over with either of her friends. Maybe he shouldn’t have mentioned it, but he was already in over his head, there was no turning back. Next time he was not going to mention what Kendra thought.

“That Lyor is being an idiot by not being clear about how he feels.” It wasn’t exactly those words, but that was the essential meaning of what she had been thinking about the whole situation. The one thing that Trey could say was that it wasn’t just Lyor who was being stupid about the whole situation. “I mean, she says the same about you, too.”

“So what you’re getting at is that we need to be clear with each other?” It didn’t seem like a question that Trey actually needed to answer, but it was making something a little more obvious to him. Maybe he shouldn’t be asking Seth how Kendra was feeling, maybe he should be asking Kendra.

“That’s the best thing, isn’t it? Communication.” Trey was asking the question now but he already knew the answer. He’d answered Seth’s question but in the same breath he’d almost entirely answered his own. That wasn’t going to stop him asking Seth still, he was there already after all.

Seth tilted his head a little looking at Trey as he asked that. “Should I be taking your advice if you’re having the same problem?” Alright, there was definitely a point there. Trey was great at giving advice, but he had always been awful at following it. There was no doubt in his mind that this was going to be part of it, but really Seth just needed to tell him that she was in the same place he was.

“I’m better at giving advice than taking it.” He laughed and was grateful when Seth joined in too. Trey realised that he hadn’t stopped picking at the side of his nail since he’d arrived and was starting to make it bleed. This time it was Seth’s turn to be silent as Trey gathered his thoughts. “I know I love Kendra but I have no idea if she’s ready to hear it.”

“She is. She feels the same way about you.” Seth replied almost instantly and that made Trey’s head shoot up. While he’d hoped to find out that Kendra was as far gone as he was, he hadn’t really expected for it to be confirmed. He felt the smile spreading across his face as he knew that this was going to be great. “But I didn’t tell you that.”

“No of course not.” He laughed and thought about what they both needed to do. It was a lot easier to think about Seth’s situation than about his own, even if he knew that it would go the way he wanted for it too. “Seth, just tell Lyor what you need from him. It’s always better to be clear.”

“I could say the same to you.” The response was instant and Trey almost sighed. Why was this so hard? He already knew what he needed to do and now that it was all confirmed he was trying to think of a way to put it into words. Words were not his strong point and he needed it to be the way that Kendra would like too. “See you later.”

“You’re right. Now just to work out how I’m gonna say it.” Trey muttered after Seth waved him off. He headed back up to the residence and sat with a notebook, trying to figure out how to say what he wanted to say. There was nothing obvious to say, maybe he’d know at the time but right now he was just confused. He just needed some guidance from somebody who actually knew what they were talking about, and there was only one person that Trey could think of for that. Thankfully, Tom would be finished with most of his meetings by now, so Trey felt comfortable enough to go and annoy him. “I need help.”

“What’s wrong, Trey?” Tom didn’t sound as open to it as Trey had expected, but given that Tom had always thought that Trey was never going to settle down with someone, Trey had thought that it was going to be easier to convince Tom to actually help him. Trey wanted this, this time, and so he was going to keep hoping for it and wanting help to keep it going. “Do you need a lawyer?”

“Nothing! No, no it’s not like that.” A lawyer was a big leap even in Trey’s damaged personal history. Things hadn’t been great for him but he’d never been straight up bad. He’d never been arrested, he just made a lot of poor decisions and that had led to him disappearing for months. It was part of the disease, but he was going to keep it managed now. He had reasons for it to stay managed. “It’s about Kendra.”

“What did you do?” Once again someone assumed that he’d done something. Maybe he just needed to accept that he really did seem like the type who was going to mess everything up. In the past, he would have been, but now he was determined because the only woman he’d ever thought about having a life with was the one he was currently dating.

Clearly, though, he wasn’t going to convince Tom any different by fighting that. “Alright. You have a point but no, this is different. I did nothing. Tom… I love her and I’ve never been in this situation before.” Trey had never had to struggle and think and plan and know that he couldn’t just walk away anymore. He loved her too much for that. “I know I said to you that I wanted this and I do but truthfully I wasn’t sure that she’d be the same and now we’re both deep in and it’s been six weeks and I want to tell her.”

“That was a lot of words to say that you don’t know how to tell your girlfriend you love her.” Tom grasped what Trey was saying really quickly, quicker even than Trey had realised that that was what it was that was bothering him. Though there was something about the idea of calling her his “girlfriend” that he just didn’t like. They were too old to be using that term.

“We’re both over thirty, can we not use the term girlfriend,” Trey complained, ready to fight Tom on that point. He just didn’t think that it should be the first term for relationships at their age. “She’s my partner and I want that to be something long term.” In fact, Trey would say that Kendra was by far the boss in their relationship, but that was what Trey liked.

“You really have fallen for her, haven’t you?” Tom said, leaning back on the chair. Trey liked this study, he could see why Tom liked to work in there. “I never thought I’d see the day.” Tom smiled and laughed a little and of course that just reminded Trey that in the past he’d always gone for the girl who was going to cause him the most problems that he could run away from. Well, the same was true here, only he didn’t want to run anymore.

“Your confidence is thrilling.” Trey rolled his eyes a little at that and just shook his head. Even though he knew that he’d never really given his brother, or anyone in his family, any reason to think that he was going to see anything through. “Tom, come on. Help me out. I love her.”

“What does she think?” Tom put all his files down and sat forward, putting his hands together in front of him the way he always did when he was going to think. This was the point where Trey had to admit that he hadn’t actually spoken to Kendra about this yet. Of course, he hadn’t, he didn’t know what to say.

“I don’t know. Seth says she’s in the same place I am, but it seems too good to be true.” He frowned softly as he said that and had to admit that maybe it was just the way that he had come to think of himself. He rarely thought that he was worthy of the people that he was involved with and that went triply for Kendra. She was so talented and wonderful and he was not that.

“The best things always do. Right up until the day she died knowing Alex seemed too good to be true.” Tom smiled at that and it actually made Trey feel a little bit better about it, especially given that nobody could doubt that Tom and Alex had been made for each other. “Trey, you know Kendra probably better than almost anyone else, just tell her how you feel.”

That was far too easy for him to think it would work and it opened him up to his biggest fear, that she would tell him that she didn’t feel the same, or that she wasn’t in the same place that he was. “What if she doesn’t feel the same?” Trey hated how small his voice sounded there and he didn’t like that he was so unsure about this. If he really felt the way he claimed surely he should know exactly what he wanted to say.

“Then you took a chance. That’s the important part.” How was it that his big brother made everything seem so much easier than it had ever been for Trey. Everything caused him to doubt, to second guess. Tom had always been the one who was meant to be this person and the best thing for Trey was that now he had his life together and he was certain that he could keep it going. “She might feel the same.”

“Trey, you back here?” That was the last voice Trey wanted to hear and yet the moment he heard Kendra’s question he couldn’t help but start to smile. He was certain that it said a lot about him that even when he was so conflicted about something Kendra was the person that made him happy.

“Now’s your chance,” Tom smirked and Trey threw the pen he’d been playing with toward Tom and shook his head. This conversation needed to happen but he was not going to do it right there in front of his brother.

“Tom, I love you but this is not a conversation I’m letting you witness.” He smirked a little turning his head to the door from the Oval. “Hey, sweetness.” He smiled and kissed her as soon as she was in the room and wrapped his arm around her back. This was probably the most that his brother had seen them interact in some time but Trey didn’t mind if it meant he got to show her off.

“Are you ready to go?” Kendra asked quietly, clearly not noticing yet that he was actually not alone. After a few seconds she looked up and Trey saw the momentary blanching of her cheeks. He felt a rush of pride that she didn’t let go and step aside, instead just gripped the back of his shirt a little. “Hi, Sir.”

“Kendra, I think at this point you need to start calling me Tom.” Trey laughed a little at that idea. He couldn’t imagine that that was going to be something that happened any time soon and clearly from the look on her face before she could control it she was slightly horrified at the idea.

“We’ll see about that, sir.” She eventually said and managed to laugh a little before she kissed his cheek, her hand still gripping the back of his shirt. “I’ll meet you at my car, good evening, Mr President.” She smiled politely before heading out into the corridor, Trey himself went to the door then turned back to his brother.

“She’s never going to, is she?” He asked and Trey just shrugged a little. It didn’t actually seem to be a question that needed to be answered. Kendra liked to try and keep a boundary, and that boundary was even stronger now that she had almost broken it entirely. How her mind worked was not his strong point, but he understood.

“Probably not. I’m going now.” He didn’t give Tom to say another word, instead just ran down the corridor to catch up with his partner and slid his hand into hers. He was quite happy to have run after her like this given that he had been trying to think of things to say to her all day.

She was quiet all the way out to the car and Trey didn’t know what to say. He was actually enjoying the comfortable silence, feeling her hand in his. Her hands were so soft in his and that gave him something to focus on whenever she touched him. Everything about her was soft. It wasn’t until they were home that she even spoke again. It wasn’t really surprising that he wasn’t going to be able to avoid the conversation anymore since she’d walked in on the end of the conversation. “What was that all about?”

“What?” He tried and then latched onto the last conversation they’d been having, the one about her using Tom’s given name more often, and Trey hoped that he could distract her with that. “Kendra you know he’s not wrong, we’re sleeping together and he’s my brother, possibly calling him Tom is not out of line.”

“He’s still my boss, and I don’t want anyone to think that I’m getting preferential treatment.” Trey actually had to pause and think that one through because it wasn’t obvious to him what she was implying. Everyone in the White House knew who she was and that they were dating, nobody had thought that it was preferential treatment yet so why they would now he didn’t know.

“Nobody would think that. They’d know that family politics is something they need to get used to.” That was where this was coming to. If he and Kendra got as serious as he wanted, as he hoped that this conversation would bring them, then they were all just going to have to get used to the fact that they were all one family.

“You’re not wrong but that’s not the point. What were you two talking about when I came in?” Damn, she wasn’t going to be distracted but he had so wanted to put this off until they were in a less pressing situation. Until it felt less like he was saying it because he’d somehow managed to freak himself about their entire relationship.

“There’s no way I can get out of this conversation, huh?” He asked with a smile, hoping that he could at least show Kendra that it wasn’t what she was thinking. It wasn’t negative and it definitely wasn’t going to be something that ended with them both being single again, but by the suspicious look on her face, he had not succeeded.

“Not with that answer, no.” She sounded suspicious too. He shifted his weight from foot to foot, wringing his hands in front of him, opening his mouth to start the sentence more than once but each time the words caught in his throat and they didn’t come out, even though he wanted to say them. “Trey, just tell me.”

“Ken.” He started then reached out and took hold of her hand, squeezing the fingers softly then taking a deep breath. He was going to say it. He was actually going to say it and she was going to know. His palms were slick with sweat but he tried to ignore them and focused on making his mouth cooperate. “I love you.”

“You… what?” She looked like a deer in the headlights but she didn’t exactly look unhappy. Really she just looked surprised and like she wasn’t sure what he was saying. Only he could somehow mess up telling someone that he loved them.

“I love you, I’m in love with you.” He started again, wanting to make sure that she knew he was completely serious. Now he’d said it that words just fell out of his mouth so much easier than he’d thought. “I can’t stop thinking about you, even the nights we’re apart all I can think about is how much I want for you to be there with me.” Elegance and concision weren’t his strong point, but it felt so good to finally be saying it. “And I don’t expect you to say it back, you don’t even have to say it back but I needed to tell you…”

He was stopped by a kiss and Kendra’s hands on his cheek. It was only then that he noticed the wide smile on her face and realised that Seth and Tom had been right, this risk had been well worth it. “Stop talking, you giant dummy.” She grinned even wider then leant forward and kissed him again before he said the three words that he hadn’t really expected to hear back. “I love you.”

“Wait… really?” He needed to check that. He didn’t think anyone had ever said that to him and meant it. Not like this. Not someone that he actually spent time with doing things other than sex and alcohol. “You… you do?”

“Yes.” She laughed and stroked his lips with her thumbs. “But you, Mr mile-a-minute really needed to stop.” She then took a deep breath then clearly said something that had been on her mind. “Would you like to move in here? I know we’ve only been together six weeks and I know we’re moving crazy fast but you stay here every night anyway.” Trey was ready to speak but Kendra just kept going. “And I know we’d have to get your brother’s approval and talk to the secret service but I think we can work it out. We can do it. You’d always have the room at the White House if you needed somewhere to go and this house is big enough we’d always have space but I…”

“Ken, baby this time you’re going off but don’t worry. I’d love to and we’ll work it out, okay?” He smiled putting his finger on her lip and then laughed a little as she jokingly tried to bite his finger. “We’ll work it all out. Because I love you.”

“I’m never gonna get tired of hearing you say that.” Kendra laughed again and closed the final bit of distance between them, dropping her hands from his cheeks to his shoulders. “I never thought I’d get to hear it.” Trey knew exactly how she felt about that, and it just made him even more determined to make sure she heard it every day.

“More reason for me to say it, then.” He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her deeply. Sure, it had only been six weeks but there was nothing stopping them. He’d always been told that when you knew, you knew and that was how he felt right now. He knew that this was a risk worth taking because there was no way he couldn’t.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm slow, life keeps being super busy.

Some things were too big for Lyor to wrap his mind around quickly. Even though he was considerably faster at processing information than the average person, being told you’re your friend and former boss may have been colluding with the Russians was something that even made him need to pause and think about it more critically. He didn’t know how long Kendra and Aaron had known, but he felt that either way it was too late. “You’re only just bringing me in on this?”

“We needed to wait until we were sure,” Aaron spoke first, though the look Kendra gave him made it clear that she had told him to let her take the lead and he wasn’t. “Otherwise it was an unsubstantiated smear on the former chief of staff.” He continued and Lyor just sat back in his chair in disbelief. This couldn’t be real, he was having some sort of awful waking nightmare, surely.

“You think you have it now?” He wanted to know that they were sure. Maybe that was why they were both here. Someone had to have been investigating a claim like this. How had it gone under the radar for so long? He was sure that there had to be other people who knew what was going on.

“I know we have it now.” Aaron continued again, and this time earned himself Kendra’s elbow in his ribs. If the situation hadn’t been so ludicrous he would have laughed, but he couldn’t, not with all this hanging over him. “Hannah’s been working on it.” Wait… that gave him even more reason to freeze.

“Hannah Wells… the reason the President just staved off a censure?” Lyor couldn’t believe that they were entrusted the safety and future of their administration and the safety of the country to a woman who had done some seriously questionable things in her pursuit of justice, or of revenge, depending on who you were talking to at the time.

“Who staved off the censure?” Kendra interjected and Lyor inclined his head in deference. Of course, she was right. She was the one who had masterminded that particular strategy and should rightly get the credit. “Lyor believe me if we could have trusted anyone else to do this investigation we would have but Hannah knows Emily.”

“So now you have proof?” All of this just seemed too much to be true. Emily had made some questionable decisions in the last few months, he wouldn’t debate that, but he still couldn’t imagine her being a traitor to the country and to a man that she had been working for and supporting for close to five years now. Lyor just couldn’t believe it.

“Hannah already had some but she’s been investigating it all. She needed to verify what she had and be sure that it was actually Emily on the video.” It slipped out of Kendra’s mouth and Lyor realised instantly that she hadn’t meant to drop that on him in quite the way she did.

“There’s video!?” He yelped than jumped up and started pacing. He managed to get this far without working out some of his nervous energy but now he couldn’t ignore it. He had to move about. “This is a disaster!” A video! It couldn’t get worse for any of them than there being a video that confirmed what they suspected. “We barely got through Cornelius Moss being a leaker, and now we’re going up against him in the election but now… now our own former chief of staff was what… a traitor?”

“That’s the way it looks,” Kendra said, still sitting on the chair on the opposite side of his desk. Aaron was standing behind her and looked a little like he thought he might need to protect her from Lyor’s pacing. Maybe he would. If he was honest Lyor didn’t know what he was feeling. “Lyor sit down.”

Ignoring Kendra was a lot easier when he was this agitated, even though he didn’t normally like doing it as he would always pay for it later. “Who knows?” He demanded and frowned a little. If this was something that could get out then they might as well all pack up right now. There was no way that any of them could come back from that.

“Outside of this room? Hannah, Chuck and Mike.” Aaron was the one to answer that, though Lyor was all but ignoring him now. So there was six of them who knew and that meant that it would be easy to keep locked down for now but Lyor knew that couldn’t last. What he didn’t know was if this would wait until the election. Accusations like this would ruin everything, and Lyor still couldn’t truly believe them.

“It’s been totally locked down. We’re only talking in here now because we’ve fully swept it for bugs.” Kendra built up from what Aaron had been saying, though she sounded so much calmer than Aaron did. “Seth doesn’t need to know yet, it’s not ready for the press. Will you sit down?”

“So who was she working with?” Lyor demanded and stared at Kendra, he wanted to hear the answer from her. Not because he didn’t believe Aaron, but because it would be easier for him to tell if Kendra was uncertain herself.

“The Russians.” She looked straight back at him and her voice was totally even, so Lyor knew that whatever they were telling him, she believed it. Lyor knew that she’d been suspicious of Emily for some time, but he hadn’t actually expected anything like this to actually have happened and for Kendra to have been right to be suspicious.

“What are you worried about most?” It was Aaron’s turn to be demanding. Lyor turned to him and glared a moment, hoping that it came across exactly how unimpressed he was at the tone. Not that he really had all that much to be angry about in that respect. Lyor did have to stop for a second and probe his own thoughts about what worried him most and then it hit him.

“That maybe, just maybe… The President knew about this.” He’d said it, and he knew that the others would immediately try and reassure him that that wasn’t possible. But six months ago they would have told him the same about Emily. “He and Emily have known each other almost as long as I knew her and I don’t know how much I believe she would betray him.”

“If she did this she betrayed all of us Lyor. I can’t believe the President would be in league with the Russians.” Kendra started, exactly as he expected. Could she really be trusted to be objective about this while she was in a relationship with the President’s brother that from all accounts was extremely serious now? He couldn’t say that though, he shouldn’t cast aspersions on one of his best friends just because he was angry.

“Wasn’t Alex’s family Russian.” Lyor was casting around for anything and anyone that would disprove this theory but even once it was out of his mouth he knew that it was ridiculous, yet he was committed now, he was following the thought through. “Could it have been Alex?”

“That seems far-fetched. I looked into them a good deal while I was defending Eva.” Kendra said instantly and Lyor would admit that he’d forgotten how much time Kendra had spent looking into the first lady’s family before Christmas. That couldn’t have been easy for her at the time as Lyor remembered there being some tension.

“And you’re dating the President’s brother,” Aaron said quietly, making the point that Lyor had been thinking in a much more objective way. They had all had questions about whether or not Kendra’s relationship was proper, but he knew that she and Trey had no doubt agreed to speak to the ethics committee a number of times.

“You too, Aaron? Get over it, all of you.” Kendra cleared looking between the both of them and it was clear that she was done with all the people commenting. This was why Lyor didn’t mention it anymore. “Yes, I’m dating Trey, we live together, he is not the president and you know that before Alex died there was an estrangement so stop.”

They all fell silent after that for a few seconds and Lyor tried to gather his thoughts again and focus on the issue at hand. Emily possibly giving information to the Russians. It was still such a bizarre thought and he honestly believed that Emily was too loyal for that. “Hannah must be wrong, surely.”

“She’s not often wrong. I know you don’t want to believe it, she was my friend too, but we have to face the facts.” Kendra started and Lyor felt his irritation rising ever further. She didn’t understand that it wasn’t just about Emily. If she was a traitor would people think differently of him? He was only here because Emily had brought him in.

“She wasn’t just my friend, Kendra. She’s the whole reason I’m here.” He wasn’t at all sure what he was thinking in this regard but he was sure that he didn’t understand anything. Maybe that was why he was having such a hard time, he couldn’t put himself in her place. “I just can’t understand why she’d do that.”

“Neither can we, but we wouldn’t be here if we didn’t believe Hannah’s evidence.” Kendra’s voice was much more sympathetic now and somehow that made it worse for him. He didn’t want sympathy, he wanted for all of this to be a horrible bad dream that he would wake up from and be warm in bed with Seth, but that wasn’t how this was going.

“Just give me a little…” Lyor hadn’t even realised when he sat down again, he’d been too busy focusing on his own internal struggle, but he stood up and scooped up his cell phone before turning and walking to the door. He wasn’t going to say anything more, they could work out what he meant and what he needed.

“No, Aaron let him go.” He heard from behind him as he walked out of his office. Lyor didn’t look back to see when they left, he just kept walking, straight out the door and out onto the driveway. He needed to just work this all out in his own way and he couldn’t do that if he felt like people were watching him. He didn’t like to feel like he was being pressured. Of course, he couldn’t avoid people all day, so he tried to be his most snappish and dismissive self. He didn’t care what most people thought.

He honestly hadn’t intended for it to continue all through getting home, but it had. Something Seth had said had annoyed him, they’d ended up having a full argument on the train about something Lyor couldn’t even remember. He knew that he’d said something hurtful, but he couldn’t remember exactly what. He’d been far too distracted thinking about what was going on with Emily. He heard his phone ringing “Lyor Boone.”

_“What the hell did you do?”_

“It’s nice to hear from you too, Kendra.” Lyor couldn’t help but be a little sarcastic about this, he should have known that Seth would have told Kendra, but he didn’t think that it would be quite this quickly. He should have known though, really, that it would be this quickly. Of course, it would. Seth probably called her the second Lyor got off the train.

_“I got a call from Seth, something about you being an irascible asshole.”_

“Yeah, that sounds familiar.” Lyor couldn’t even deny it today, he had been being an asshole but he found he wasn’t actually as sorry about it as maybe he should have been. All he had wanted was a little while alone to think, but he hadn’t even been able to get that. If Emily was able to do this what was to say Seth wasn’t either. Though Lyor knew it was still his disbelief that Emily could do anything like this.

_“I’ll be there in five minutes and if you don’t open the door I remind you I have a key.”_

“Is Trey with you?” That was the important question. He didn’t particularly like Trey, but he tolerated him for Kendra’s sake. That didn’t mean he was going to let him into his house. If Trey was with her he’d meet them outside. Kendra on her own he could probably tolerate.

_“No. I’m on my way home from work.”_

“Then the door will be open.” Lyor knew that Kendra was just being a good friend. She was friends with them both so, of course, she was going to be trying to help them when something like this was going on but that didn’t mean that Lyor was actually in the mood to be dealing with it all. As soon as Kendra was walking through the door Lyor had anticipated the mood that she’d been in. “Yelling at me isn’t going to help this.”

“Are you really having this much trouble with what we told you today?” She asked, and Lyor was silently happy to see that she wasn’t taking off her coat. Couldn’t he just be left alone to wallow in peace about his terrible choices?  “We’re all angry it doesn’t give us the right to take it out on other people.”

Lyor wasn’t sure why this was all bothering him so much, normally he would be focusing on what came next, not on the actual actions of the person who had been accused. Here though… here he couldn’t stop thinking about it. “Oh, I’m sorry, am I supposed to be over the fact that one of my oldest friends might be a traitor in what, six hours?”

“You should stick to brutal realism, sarcasm doesn’t suit you.” Kendra snapped back and Lyor remembered that she was there to try and get him to make up with Seth. He took a breath as she held a hand up. Maybe Kendra wasn’t as unaffected by the news about Emily as Lyor had been assuming that she was. “No you’re not supposed to be over it, but you’re not supposed to take it out on your partner.”

“I didn’t take it out on him, Seth is just sensitive.” As soon as that slipped out of his mouth Lyor was angry with himself for it. They had all known something strange had gone on in his relationship with Emily, though none of them had ever asked what it was and Seth had never volunteered, but of course he would be sensitive to someone being like this for no reason he could know about.

“Yes he is, and yelling at him about Chinese food is definitely taking it out on him.” Kendra sounded a little calmer too now, the deep breaths she’d been taking clearly helping out there. “You’re being an asshole Lyor and yeah, maybe there is a good reason for it but if you want to salvage your relationship you need to go and apologise and talk it out. Seth’s a forgiving guy, but Emily already fucked him over in ways you and I probably don’t even know. Don’t let her take this from him too.” Kendra had a point and Lyor needed to think. “Think about it, at the very least. I need to get home or Trey will wonder where I got to.” She smiled a little and stood up, picking up her back again. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

When she left Lyor forced himself to think less about Emily and more about the people in his life now. Kendra was a good friend, probably one of the best he’d ever had despite her taste in partner. Seth was the only truly good thing he had outside of work and he felt a growing sense of shame as he thought over how he’d treated his partner this evening.  He hated to admit it, but Kendra was right and he needed to go to Seth and he needed to apologise, which was the social interaction that Lyor was worst at doing. He set off out, deciding that walking it would give him time to think through what he needed to say and how he needed to say it. When he got to the door of Seth’s building he rang the buzzer and hoped he wouldn’t be turned away. “Seth.”

“ _What do you want?_ ”

“To… apologise.” He stammered, but a second later he got up to Seth’s apartment, so much smaller than his, and just stopped before knocking on the door. “I’m sorry for how I’ve acted today. Seth.” He started the minute the door was open. “Aaron and Kendra brought me in on a national security issue today and I guess I’m not… doing well with it.”

“And?” Seth had his arms crossed and Lyor felt like he was about two feet tall. He’d never actually felt this shameful about how he’d behaved before, not in this sense at least. There were other things that could cause him to feel like this, but he hadn’t experienced it in a while. Normally he liked being an asshole. He could still be an asshole, but he needed to not take his bad moods out on people.

“I shouldn’t have been taking it out on you.” He managed to get that out as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He didn’t know if Seth was going to accept all of this, but he had to keep trying. This situation, the longer it went on, was making Lyor realise exactly how much Seth mattered to him. “I am really sorry.”

“You’re right, you shouldn’t. Come in.” Seth loosened up and stepped back to let Lyor through the door. They rarely stayed here but tonight it felt appropriate that he was here and that they work it out where Seth was comfortable since he was the one who had been wronged by this. “Is this about Emily?”

The question made Lyor pause as he remembered that they’d mentioned that Seth and the President didn’t know yet. Lyor didn’t know how Seth would have made that leap without some sort of information. “They said you hadn’t been read in yet?”

“I haven’t, but she’s my ex-girlfriend and Aaron dropped a few hints that she was involved in something bad.” Lyor followed Seth around to the sofa and sat down, taking his words at face value as he knew that Seth had no reason to lie to him, thought convincing himself that’s what he was doing probably wasn’t a great sign. Lyor mentally shook himself, he knew he was being silly. Thankfully Seth read his silence as concern. “Don’t worry I’m not going to ask you for details, I know as Press Secretary I need to be the last to know. Just… don’t shut me out completely.”

“I can’t say anything about it without giving away what’s going on,” Lyor said quietly but he knew that wasn’t exactly what Seth was meaning. He just needed to try and take it less literally. He knew there was something that he could promise, and he hoped it would be enough. “But I’ll try not to take my bad mood out on you again.”

“That’s all I want.” Seth smiled then reached forward to pull out a stack of take-out menus. Not what they usually got if they were staying here, but maybe Seth’s pantry was empty, that was definitely possible since they hadn’t been here in a couple of weeks. “Want some dinner?” Lyor froze and realised… he didn’t actually remember when he last ate.

“I should probably eat, shouldn’t I?” He mused then when he looked up he caught Seth’s amused half smirk. “What?”

“You’re ridiculous. But you’re mine.” Seth said, then just leant forward and pressed his lips to Lyor’s without a second thought. There was a moment of shock where Lyor didn’t know what to do before he started to return the pressure and reached out to take Seth’s hand. When he pulled back Seth looked almost surprised at himself. “Sorry, I…”

“No, that was… great.” Finding the right word was so much harder than he normally found it. His mind had been momentarily wiped blank and he needed to try and focus again but all he could think of was how that had been a really good kiss.

“Just great?” Seth looked a little disappointed that that was the only response that he got for a first kiss but Lyor couldn’t wipe the grin off his face. An hour ago he was sure that he was never going to be allowed near Seth again and here they were. This had definitely been a good idea.

“Spectacular. Amazing. Breath-taking.” There were only so many synonyms that Lyor could think of while he was this breathless but they were all good ones. He hadn’t really expected that, but now he didn’t want to stop.

“Oh shut up.” Seth laughed then pulled Lyor into him again. Lyor was going to have to remember to thank Kendra for pushing him to apologise. He was also going to try and convince her to bring it up to Seth soon. He was able to lie to the press better than anyone else Lyor had ever met. For now, though, he was going to enjoy this new dynamic and hope it was a sign that things were still moving forward.


	9. Chapter 9

In the last three months almost everything had changed in Kendra’s life and she knew that that was a good thing but at times she was still taken aback by it. It had been more than a month since Trey had moved in and this was still the first day off she’d actually had. Cuddling up in bed after breakfast she was just enjoying that she had someone to do this with. At the same time, she was becoming more and more aware that she needed to know where he stood on the things she wanted in the future. “You know… we’ve been together long enough that we should start thinking about having the talk.”

“Which talk?” Trey asked, rolling over slightly so that he could kiss her cheek as they stayed laid together. Kendra was glad that he hadn’t moved to pull away, she wasn’t sure that she would have had the courage to go through with it if he seemed like he was going to go the other way or want something that just wasn’t compatible with what she wanted.

“The talk where we check we have compatible life goals and desires.” She said simply, reaching down to take hold of one of his hands, sliding her fingers between his and thinking about how to say what she was actually thinking and for it not to come out sounding too pushy or demanding. “We’ve been together more than three months now and… truth be told I’m thirty-eight, I’m not getting any younger.”

“Alright. I know you want to be a mom.” Trey said that so casually but that was exactly what all of her troubles were. She truly worried that he wasn’t going to be as interested in having a family as she was. Now that she was as old as she was she knew that it was time she thought about it before it was all too late. The one thing it didn’t tell her was his thoughts on it.

“What about you?” She asked quietly after a few moments of silence. She felt his arm slip from under her shoulders, but he didn’t move away, still. In fact, he just moved a little closer, putting his hand on her stomach gently as he thought about what it was she was asking. She knew it wasn’t necessarily an easy question, so she wasn’t going to push him if he didn’t know what he wanted.

“Honestly… until I met you I never thought about it.” That wasn’t really a surprise to her. They had spoken about his history, about how he had never really tried to hold on to a relationship before, but she hoped that this was different, she hoped that they would be able to work it out. “I told you that I’d never been with a woman long enough to even think about regular dates, let alone living with her and thinking about the future.”

“And now?” She prompted. It sounded more like Trey wanted her to understand his thought process than answering her initial question. She could live with all of that but she had to know the actual answer too. If he was ready to give it to her then she’d be thrilled, but if he ended up saying he didn’t know she’d be disappointed but she could wait a few more months.

“Kendra… I want to be with you and honestly…” Trey trailed off again and then got a large smile on his face before he started talking again. “I look at Tom with Penny and Leo and even with everything they’d been through… I want that. I want to have a family of my own that I can help teach and guide and grow.” Kendra felt her own smile grow hearing that. “How many do you want?”

“Honestly?” She asked, her smile faltering a little. This was often where her relationships had fallen in the past. She never had a number, but she knew that she wanted it to be more than just one or two. Kendra didn’t like to lie about this either, as it was the lives of other people, not just herself. When Trey nodded she just grinned and thought of the best way to say it. “As many as we can handle.”

“That many, huh?” He chuckled and leant over to kiss her softly. Kendra had rarely been met with such a simple response in all her years of dating, but it seemed like Trey was open to that idea. It would be something important for the both of them to decide when they were done, but Kendra didn’t need a number as long as she knew that the person she was planning them with was on board too.

“I’ve always wanted a big family, I think it was coming from such a little family and my mom having MS my whole life.” She had always had a bit of a different upbringing, though she had loved ever second of it. Being an only child had never been something that she enjoyed though. “Dad didn’t want to risk it then and he never treated me different just because I wasn’t biologically his child. If biologically didn’t work for us… I wouldn’t be against adopting.”

“I would be alright with that too.” He nodded then settled back against his pillows. Kendra moved over and put her head on his chest, running her fingers up his stomach slowly as she just smiled in relief that she wasn’t going to need to end this over something that she wanted in the future. “Ken… you remember that I’m bi-polar, right?” She heard he rumble in Trey’s chest as he spoke and she wondered what was in his mind.

“I can’t easily forget it, babe.” She confirmed and pushed herself up to almost sitting beside him. In the months since they’d been dating Kendra had only known him to mention his disorder twice. Once explaining how it affected him and the other explaining what his medications did, but this seemed like it was much more serious. “What’s bothering you?”

She caught the look on his face and her heart broke a little. She didn’t need to know exactly what was going on to see how haunted he was by whatever it was he was thinking about. “What if I give it to one of our children?” He asked quietly, the words hardly audible but she knew what he was asking. The truth was Kendra knew it was a possibility, but they’d work something out.

“Then we deal with it.” Was all she could think to say. It didn’t change her mind that she wanted a family with him in the future if she could possibly start one. “You and I will always find a way to cope, okay. I know that it affects everything you do, even though you’re medicated, but I’ve been dealing with chronic conditions my entire life and it doesn’t change the fact that I love you more than I ever could have imagined.”

“How did I get so lucky?” Trey asked with a grin, the worry that he’d had only a minute earlier. Kendra was thankful that she could reassure him at the very least as this was something that mattered to them both.

“Your brother.” She laughed then moved closer, kissing him deeply and enjoying that she had no reason to get up. That was until she heard the tell-tale sound of her phone ringtone and knew that it was almost certainly going to be work. As soon as she saw Seth’s name she decided she didn’t need to be polite. “I swear to god if this isn’t a national emergency I am going to kill you.”

“ _It’s exactly that._ ”

That made her sit up a little and she knew that Trey was watching her even if he couldn’t hear the other side of the call. “What happened?” She was already reaching for her dressing gown and mentally cursing her job. She didn’t want to have to leave after the morning’s conversation but she also knew that she didn’t really have a choice.

“ _Tiffany Gimble screwed me and someone on our staff screwed the rest of you_.”

“I’ll be there in half an hour.” She slid out of bed and smiled looking back to Trey who was sitting up ready to move. “I’m sorry baby, duty calls.” How much Kendra hated those words could not be overstated but she knew that he would understand. At the very least he was a very understanding partner.

“I’ll come in with you. I can spend the day with Tom and Penny.” Trey smiled at that idea and Kendra knew that he hadn’t been spending as much time with his family since he’d moved here. She couldn’t blame him for wanting to see them now that he had an unexpected solo day. “I love you, too. By the way.” He said right as she was about to step into the bathroom, causing her to snort softly.

“Dork.” She mumbled and shook her head before getting into the shower. She was totally unsurprised when Trey joined her a moment later and she realised that they were going to be longer than the half hour she’d said before. She didn’t really care though, it was a press emergency so there wasn’t really a race against time. They could wait.

When Kendra arrived she realised that she wasn’t the last one in, but the only one later than she was was the chief of staff and Kendra wasn’t going to try challenging her on that. Especially as she was probably enjoying a day off too. When Beth did arrive she pointed to everyone in the room, saving Seth for last, as she spoke. “Alright, I’m going to kill you, you, you and I’m definitely going to kill you.”

“Hey, it wasn’t my fault. I was as caught out by this as you were.” Seth held his hands up and frowned. Kendra had to admit that they really all should have known this was coming. It had been a while since anything had happened, and in this administration, absolutely nothing stayed calm for very long.

“Alright, the bigger question is… who had access to all this information?” That was a good question and Kendra wasn’t sure even she knew the answer to that. Most of this information was new to her. Sure, none of the legal things were, but she didn’t pay attention to most of the politics. It was better that way.

“Everyone in this room, senior assistants,” Lyor answered first, but Kendra was immediately about to disagree, not that Lyor paused for long enough for her to actually get a word in edgewise. “I would say the President and VP but neither of them knew all these details.”

“I didn’t know some of these details,” Seth spoke up. There may be a small gap in what they let the Press Secretary know but most of these things were what he’d need to be briefed in, not everything though. Kendra didn’t think there were more than five people who knew all the plans that had been released.

As Seth had opened the floor to people pointing out they didn’t know it all she felt she could add on. “Nor me. I know very little about what happens on the political side of this building.” She looked down at the list of plans and documents that had been released and shook her head softly. “I think the list of people who knew this is even shorter than you think it is.”

“Kendra, you’re going to have to run an investigation,” Beth said decisively. She didn’t want to be the one in charge of it but this wasn’t just the run-of-the-mill leak. These were serious and high-level documents and it worried Kendra that she was actually going to have to accuse one of her friends of leaking classified information.

“I’ll get the junior counsel to build up an interview list with me.” She frowned even more and mentally made a plan before realising that she was going to need to speak to the reporter. She didn’t have the best of experiences when it came to the press, so she had to hope that Seth would be able to help her out there. “Seth can you give me a hand in talking with Tiffany.”

“She’s not gonna give up her source, Ken.” He pushed back and Kendra had to bite back a small amount of annoyance. She knew that Seth was just doing his job, making sure that she didn’t do something that wasn’t allowed but that wasn’t why Kendra needed to speak to her. Even if she didn’t get an answer, it needed to be on record.

“I know that. I want to know if we’re going to have anything else coming up.” There were so many jokes in bad taste she could make there, but she managed to stop herself. She didn’t really want to have to explain her sense of humour in a situation like this, it was easier to keep them to herself and just unleash them on Trey when they got home. She zoned out of the meeting a little as Seth and Beth discussed media strategies and almost jumped when she heard her name.

“Kendra, where are we? Legally speaking?” That was a more difficult question to answer until she’d looked everything over. She was thankful that whoever had leaked this wasn’t on her staff as none of the supporting documents were released and there were some inconsistencies with what they were actually trying to do. But it was enough that Kendra wasn’t looking forward to how much extra work she suddenly had.

“Well, we’re going to have to change approaches to the things that we’re still fighting and that’s going to be my free time for the next two weeks gone as I gather my staff and work it out.” She grumbled and frowned, realising that she wasn’t going to have time to do any of the things she and Trey had been thinking of arranging. “I’ll tell you for sure on Monday.”

Beth nodded once and then turned away, clearly satisfied with Kendra getting everything done on the following workday. “Lyor, what about politically.” The conversation now didn’t require Kendra’s input so she only half listened to it, focusing instead on other things that she could do. Maybe she could still take tomorrow as a day off and get to actually spend it with Trey.

“This is a disaster, isn’t it?” She asked quietly as she realised how long Lyor had been listing the political ramifications. Only Aaron was still paying attention to her, and he only gave a terse nod. Something that Kendra hadn’t expected to be the only answer. She might have worked in politics for years but she didn’t actually understand politics, she just wanted to make sure they all played by the law. “How bad?”

“There aren’t many things that can derail the President, but this is one of them. Especially so soon after you avoided the censure.” He frowned again and reached out to squeeze Kendra’s shoulder. “So yeah, it’s a disaster.” Aaron’s comment didn’t make her feel any better about this, and now she needed to accept responsibility for finding who had done it.

She text Trey as soon as she was out of the meeting saying she needed a few hours then they could go home. No matter what she tried to do she couldn’t stop thinking about what they’d discussed before she was called in. She’d hoped they’d have the whole day for follow up, instead, it had been just long enough that she got to start questioning herself about it. She was still off in a world of her own when there was a sudden question that brought her back to the moment. “You’ve been distracted this afternoon, you good?” Beth was stood on the other side of Kendra’s desk, and she didn’t remember calling out for the door to open.

“Yeah, I just… I was hoping to spend today working out the future of my relationship, not reading through every brief my team wrote in the last two weeks.” She tried to laugh it off but she could tell from the tilt of Beth’s head that it didn’t work. Today was just not going at all how Kendra had expected and so she was having trouble concentrating.

“Things not working?” Beth asked, shutting the door then sitting on the opposite side of the desk. Kendra wouldn’t usually consider speaking about her relationship with someone who could be seen as being in a position of power over her, but given the structure of the White House and the fact she had nobody else to talk to, it was easier to open up to Beth than to one of the boys.

“No, the opposite. Things are going really well. We’re more than three months in and we had the talk this morning.” She smiled softly then looked up to Beth who just looked slightly confused. “You know the ‘do we have the same goals’ talk. Which was something we’d needed because we have such different life experiences.”

“Then what’s the problem?” Beth had left her silent for a few moments but even Kendra had to admit that she didn’t really know what her problem was. It was almost like her mind was still trying to protect her in some way, tell her that this wasn’t as important as she was making it up to be in her mind.

“You have a family right?” Kendra changed track, seeing if she could get the answer she needed out of Beth and that that would help her figure out how confused she suddenly was. This morning Kendra had been certain but now she was doubting because it all seemed too good to be that she had finally found someone who wanted to have children with her that she actually liked and enjoyed having around.

“Yeah, three kids. Fourteen, eleven and nine.” Kendra had known she had kids but truthfully Beth didn’t look like she was old enough to have a fourteen-year-old. Kendra was pretty sure they were around the same age and that just seemed so bizarre to her. “Still married to their dad, too.” Beth seemed proud of that and, given the statistics, it was actually an achievement.

She stopped for a second and thought about how to phrase the question that she needed to answer. “How did you know your husband was the right person to have kids with?” It sounded so blunt when said like that, but it was what Kendra needed and wanted to know. How did anyone know?

“Well, I moved across the world so he could go to his first choice medical school, so I’d really already made that decision. We’ve been together since I was eighteen.” That answered so many other questions but not the one that Kendra had asked. After another moment Beth just smiled and spoke a little more quietly. “Kendra… when you know, you know. There will still be the occasional doubt, you might think it’s all too good to be true, but you’ll know despite all these doubts.”

“I think I do. I really do.” She said more to herself, but glad that Beth was there to listen and reassure her when she needed it. There wasn’t much that she wanted to say but this was something that it was definitely easier to talk about with another woman than with her other friends. “I want a big family and I just worry he wouldn’t be able to handle that.”

“Sometimes that’s the risk you take.” Beth smiled and sat forward a little. “All you can do is take the plunge and hope for the best, that’s all any of us do and for the majority of us that’s fine. Just make sure that you know you can both put the kids first.” There was a shrill ringing through the room and Beth grimaced as she pulled her phone out of her pocket. “Speaking of kids first…” Beth trailed off and picked her phone up.

“Thank you,” Kendra said quietly not sure what she was thanking for but knowing that she felt better after that conversation. Maybe she was going to be able to let go of all the doubts in her mind and just accept that her life was as it was right now.

“No problem,” Beth said as she stood up and started out the door, speaking into the phone as she walked out. “Ffion, sut wyt ti?” Kendra watched her dodge around someone just outside of the door as she raced off to deal with whatever problem there was with her kid then smiled as she saw Trey step into the doorway.

“What language even is that?” He asked motioning over his shoulder in the direction that Beth had clearly walked off in. That had been one of Kendra’s first questions when she’d overheard a phone conversation that had sounded intense from her perspective. It had actually been them talking about what to make for dinner. Languages were strange but at least she knew the answer.

“Welsh.” She said quickly then stood up and smiled, walking around to give Trey a kiss. She actually felt herself smile even more when he wrapped an arm around her back and pulled her closer. “I’m really sorry about today, babe.” She frowned wishing that she could say more.

“We’ll have tomorrow, there will always be another day.” That seemed so much more positive than Kendra had expected. No matter what she needed to do over the next few weeks she was going to make sure that she didn’t take Trey for granted. He didn’t deserve that and she needed this home life. “You ready to go?”

“Am I ever. The rest can wait til Monday.” She made the executive decision then and there that, for the first time in her adult life, her relationship was much more important than her job. She’d never swapped that priority before but it felt like it was time.


	10. Chapter 10

Every staff meeting in the last few days had eventually come back to the leak, and though Seth had tried to help Kendra as much as he could, he thought that they were now just about as far as he could get them. Other than what he heard in these meetings he didn’t know much about what was going on. As was probably good strategy he was being kept out of the loop to try and prevent any further press leaks. “Alright, it’s been four days. Where are we on the leak?” Beth sighed, turning her attention to Kendra who had been quiet all through this afternoon’s meeting.

“Absolutely nowhere and I can’t do much now without escalating it.” It was clear that she was talking about passing it over to the FBI or the justice department to look through it, but, given that the leak wasn’t security information he doubted that either would actually take it very seriously. Mostly it was just embarrassing. That was when Kendra said something that nobody had expected. “I don’t think it’s anyone on staff though, Beth.”

“Explain?” They were all sitting forward a little more and Seth knew that every set of eyes in the room was on Kendra. She opened her notebook and he frowned. He didn’t know if she was checking something or if she was doing it to buy time but either way he wasn’t sure he could take the suspense. “What’s making you think it’s someone else?”

“The details are just… wrong.” Kendra frowned and handed some papers around, a demonstration of actual policy and what was leaked. There were a lot of small discrepancies that probably weren’t obvious until someone had properly looked into them. “They aren’t current. We changed a lot of these once you came aboard.” The dates on the changes bore that out too.

“So, you think it’s someone who used to work here?” Seth heard the question, but already his suspicions were forming and he knew that he needed to go and investigate before he started throwing accusations out. If he was right, and he was fairly sure that he was, there had to be a reason that this happened, even if he didn’t understand it.

“There was a big turnover when you came in, as is normal when a new chief of staff begins.” Lyor started, then went into a list of all the people who had left when Beth had come in. Most were fairly standard rotations and they’d moved to the VP’s office or followed others to other agencies, but a few had been Emily’s hires, and they’d just left. Seth knew who he needed to go and ask though.

“That’s great, how about you start trying to work up a list with Kendra.” Beth cut Lyor off after a couple of minutes before he got too deep into it. After they agreed Beth just looked around the staff, clearly ready for the meeting to be over. “Is that everything? Alright, I’ll see you all this evening.”

As they all filed out Seth thought about telling Lyor, but he knew that he’d never get the time alone if he brought it up with his partner so it was easier to tell Kendra. She was the slower walker anyway and so it was easier to catch her up. “Ken, hang on.” He called after a moment, his decision made.

“What’s up Seth?” She asked, still walking slowly and rearranging the papers in her arms. Seth had no idea how to tell her what was going on in his mind and he didn’t want to distract Kendra from her lines of inquiry. If he was wrong he would know after one conversation, but he didn’t think that he was. “You okay?”

“Let me talk to someone before you push on with your investigation.” That wasn’t the best way to say it but as he did he watched the dawning comprehension on Kendra’s face that he might know more than he was letting on, or at least had some information. He didn’t want to point the finger without cause, though, and that was all that this would be doing.

“You know who it is, don’t you?” Kendra’s dawning realisation wasn’t actually that helpful but he wasn’t going to lie to her about it, he was just going to be cagey. He felt like Kendra would probably eventually come to the same conclusion he had, it might just take her a little bit longer.

“I have a suspicion… but I don’t want to accuse without some proof.” He wasn’t going to say who it was and he wasn’t going to take all day, he knew that Kendra would give him the latitude as long as he gave her a firm timescale. She also probably wouldn‘t worry as much as Lyor would. “Just give me until the evening briefing.”

“Sure.” She nodded then went to carry on to her office before clearly thinking better of it and turning back to him, dropping her arms to her side. Seth knew that her desire to interfere was probably high right now but he was thankful she resisted it. “Seth… Be safe whatever you do.”

“I’ll try.” That was really all he could do too. It wasn’t like he was actually in any danger but he could understand why she’d want to tell him to be careful. That was something that he needed to get better at doing. “Do me a favour, don’t tell Lyor.” That was something that she absolutely shouldn’t do. It would not end well for him. She nodded and then actually did turn away which was when Seth realised that he actually did need to go and do this.

It took half an hour to finish his briefing and make excuses for where he was going to be, telling his deputies that he’d be back soon and that they should call him if there was an emergency. He also told a white lie and said that Kendra knew where he’d be, though that was strictly true. Getting to Emily’s turned out to be the easy part, knocking on her door was more difficult. “Seth, this is a surprise.”

“Is it really, Em?” He asked as she stepped back to let him in. All the times he’d been here while they’d been dating and all he could think was that she was not at all the person that he’d thought she was. “I think you know why I’m here.” She wasn’t stupid, she would at the very least be able to guess. Even if she wasn’t the leaker she should have known they’d come to her.

“I don’t.” She tried then Seth saw the smile crossing her face. It wasn’t an innocent smile, in fact, it was a little vindictive. She knew exactly why he was here and she was going to make it hard for him. He just stared at her instead, waiting for her to say something. “Oh. The press leak? I saw that, how sad.”

“Did you do it?” He tried to sound calmer than he felt. It would just make her happy if he showed how angry and annoyed he was at her. This was probably something that she’d done for attention from her former friends. Seth didn’t actually need her to confirm it now, he already knew that she’d been the one to do this.

“Would I?” Emily was still trying to play innocent, but she wasn’t very good at it. How had Seth never seen how manipulative she was before? This had been the way she acted their entire relationship and he’d never cottoned on that she was not treating him well.

“Once upon a time I would have thought not… but I’m not sure I know you anymore. Or if I ever knew you at all.” Maybe that wouldn’t affect her but damn it felt so good for him to finally say it to her. Emily had been someone he thought he’d be happy with, how glad he was now that he wasn’t with her at all anymore. Especially if she could have done this. “So I’ll ask again… Was it you?”

“What do you think?” Emily’s cagey behaviour was enough proof for Seth but he wanted her to say it. He needed her to say it so that he could tell the others beyond any doubt that it was their old friend.

As for why he thought it was her, it was easier for him to get into her headspace than he wanted to admit. “I think that you’re imagining the trouble you could cause, particularly for Kendra and Aaron, though why you’d be focusing on them I don’t know.” He knew that at the time she left there was something going on and he didn’t know if that was part of all this. “Why you’re doing this to any of us I don’t know. We’re your friends.”

“You don’t? Really? You’re not my friends.” Emily catapulted herself off the sofa and started pacing around the room. Seth hadn’t been prepared for the instant change but he maybe should have been. She had been far too calm before. He should have known that it was an act. “You’re so blind sometimes, Seth.”

“Then explain it to me.” He sat down on the sofa now, trying to let Emily see him as being non-threatening. That was going to be the easiest way to deal with this. He watched her as she continued pacing around, slowing and then speeding up. He didn’t press again, just watching her until she stopped across the room from him and turned back in his direction.

“Fine, yes I leaked it and you’re right… Embarrassing Kendra and Aaron was something I was hoping would come from it.” There was a vindictive happiness in Emily’s voice, the fact he was here was likely proof enough of that. “Kendra never protected me the way she did the rest of you. She never defended me to the President, she never explained why my transgressions weren’t as bad as they appeared to be.” Seth listened to Emily complaining about Kendra’s actions for a few minutes until he couldn’t manage to stay quiet any more.

“Emily you screwed up!” Seth yelped, unable to believe that Emily actually thought that what had happened was Kendra’s fault. Seth had known then that there was nothing she could have done. It was a PR nightmare that they were still getting questions about. “You screwed up massively. There was nothing she could have done.”

“Yes, there was! She did it for others.” Seth was so confused by Emily’s thought process here and he didn’t know how she was getting the idea that Kendra had done anything for others that she’d then not done for Emily. Nobody had done the things that Emily had done either. There were no real comparisons to be made.

“Nobody else authorised illegal searches or tried to interfere with the Supreme Court. This is ridiculous. What’s your beef with Aaron?” That was something that Seth definitely didn’t understand at all. He had hoped that it would just be fallout from the way everything ended but he wasn’t so sure right now.

“He could have talked the President into bringing me back.” Seth felt his jaw drop at Emily’s words. Now he thought that she must be delusional because she couldn’t seriously think that this was possible. “I resigned but I thought you would all fight for me more, especially given that it’s your fault I failed.”

“Wait. How do you figure that?” Now he was just annoyed. He knew that she didn’t like to take responsibility for her actions but this was going over the top and he wouldn’t stand for it. “You were the chief of staff, Emily. You were the one who was supposed to lead and you never did that.” Everything he’d wanted to say for months came tumbling out. “You manipulated, you cheated and the reason you failed is that you never actually had any idea what you were doing.” Harsh, maybe, but it was the truth. “All you’ve done here is ensure you’ll never work in professional politics again.” Seth just stopped then took a breath. “I realise that there is nothing else I can say now. Goodbye, Emily.”

“Seth.” She called after him, but Seth was done.

“No, we’re done. I thought I still owed you some loyalty because of our history but I realise that… you were never that loyal to begin with.” Damn, that felt good. He walked out and got back in the car, being quiet all the way back to work. It was so rare that he drove he was glad that he had this morning.

When he got back to the office he dumped everything back in his office then made sure that his phone had actually recorded the entire conversation. When he did he stepped out of the office and smiled seeing Lyor walking past. “Hey, Lyor. I need to speak to you.” He called out but from the look on Lyor’s face maybe he needed to be more specific. “Aaron and Beth and Kendra too. Can you all everyone together in Beth’s office in about ten minutes.”

“What’s going on, Seth?” Lyor asked, still clearly a little bit suspicious. Seth didn’t want to tell any of them separately. He thought that it would be easier only going through this once because he knew that it was going to be spoken about.

“Just do it, please?” He pressed then stepped forward and kissed Lyor gently before stepping away. “I just need to sort one thing first. Ten minutes.” He had the recording but he needed to go and get the copies of the old files from storage so that he could do exactly what he needed to do to show them.

He didn’t even give Lyor time to respond before he was running off, he needed to find them before he missed the window. He was so thrilled that he’d found the end of this. At least it would prevent the need for any more investigations. As soon as he walked into Beth’s office a few minutes later he saw the look of confusion as they watched him. “Seth, why did you get Lyor to bring us all here.”

“I told Kendra earlier that I thought I knew who leaked. I was right and I have the evidence.” He pulled the files out and handed a copy of one each to everyone gathered around the room then pulled his phone out ready to play the conversation on his phone. “It was Emily.”

“I should have gone there as soon as I realised it wasn’t anyone current. I guess I just thought that she had more loyalty to the President than that.” Aaron said looking up at him then around the others in the room. “How do you have proof?”

“Well, Kendra can confirm but… I only need the permission of one participant to record a conversation.” Seth hadn’t actually looked up the law but he’d remembered Kendra mentioning that more than once during the investigation into Dax Minter. It was something that had lodged in his mind, apparently.

“It’s true, DC is a one-party consent jurisdiction.” Kendra nodded then paused and just stared at Seth a moment. “Wait you have a recording? You went to see her?”

“I needed to get the evidence, and I wasn’t going to risk her finding out before I got there. She’s not very… she’s really pissed at you and Aaron. All of us really, but especially you two.” That was something that he felt he needed to push.

“Let’s hear it then,” Beth ordered as they all sat down. Seth sat with Lyor while Beth, Kendra and Aaron sat on the other side of the table. All five of them listening intently. Seth wanted to see if he’d missed anything while he was sure the others were just listening to know what was said at all.

Seth watched their faces as they listened. Beth and Lyor both looked scandalised but Kendra and Aaron just kept looking at each other as if they knew something. Had they already worked out that it was Emily or was there something else going on? When the recording reached the end they were all silent a moment before Aaron broke it. “Kendra… I think we gotta tell them.”

“It’s not… Aaron, we’re not there yet.” Kendra’s refusal made Seth realise he’d been right in thinking there was something else going on. Maybe he was finally going to learn what it was that had been keeping all of the others so on edge over the last month or so. He was so ready to know that.

“No Ken… Aaron’s right and it hurts me to say that.” Lyor was in on it too. Beth was looking confused and a little concerned. Clearly not liking that there was something going on with the staff that she didn’t know about. Not that Seth could blame her, she was supposed to be in charge of them all, he was sure that she wanted to believe that she knew everything. “It’s time we let them in. Seth can keep a secret. It’s time.”

Kendra’s face showed how little she wanted to be doing this but she’d been overruled and at least she was doing what the majority had said. Another deep breath just added to the suspense before Kendra said the least expected sentence Seth ever expected to hear. “Emily… is under a secret investigation.” He froze and just stared at her. “Treason. Conspiracy against the United States. Perjury. We’re not sure what else yet.” Kendra’s list wasn’t helping him believe it. “We have evidence that she was feeding information about the administration to a Russian agent by the name of Valeria Poreskova.”

“Wasn’t she the Russian that your former agent was investiga…” Beth started before pausing, clearly realising that that was not an unconnected investigation. Seth didn’t understand though. Hannah wasn’t even on staff anymore. “That’s how this came up, isn’t it?”

“There is evidence, a considerable amount. Copies of documents that were eyes only for the Chief of Staff.” Aaron backed Kendra up and Seth just stood there staring between his two friends. He couldn’t believe that this was something that he was actually having to think about. “There is also a video, Emily is clearly identifiable in it.”

“Emily isn’t a traitor. She loves the President.” Seth babbled, he knew that Emily was messed up right now, and she was feeling betrayed by the people she thought were the reason she was fired but she wasn’t a traitor. She wasn’t the kind of person who would sell out the country or the President that she adored.

“Seth… you’re the one who suspected her enough to think that she leaked all the information to the press, why is this so hard to believe?” Lyor asked and that just sparked Seth’s annoyance. How could any of them be believing this? Sure, Emily leaked things, and she could be vindictive and search for revenge… but this was too much even for her surely?

“Because it’s Emily, you guys.” He hoped that at least one of them would see what he was trying to say. It was Emily. She was their friend, not someone who would betray everything. “I know she’s made bad decisions and she’s not… been exactly the nicest person to work with… she wouldn’t do this to the President.”

“I’ve known her a lot longer than you and I think if Emily could benefit from it… she would do almost anything.” Beth said quietly and he realised that none of them was going to come to Emily’s defence. He couldn’t just sit back and believe this. It was too much. He knew her better than this.

Lyor came close and tried to placate him with a hand on his shoulder but Seth just shrugged it off. He wasn’t ready to be comforted. There was no need for it. “My thoughts when they first told me were similar, Seth. But it makes sense when you really think about it.”

“Everything last month, that was about this?” Seth wouldn’t forget how mad Lyor had been and now he understood. “I can’t believe this. I refuse to believe this. I don’t care how much evidence there is, Emily isn’t a traitor.” Evidence could be manufactured, they all knew that. Mostly though Seth was angry that Kendra was pushing this when surely she knew Emily wasn’t like that really. “Maybe she was right about you, Kendra.”

“Seth!” Aaron shouted after him but he didn’t turn back. He’d been a little mean to Kendra but he actually wasn’t sorry about that because how could she be pushing this. Emily wasn’t a traitor, he knew she wasn’t a traitor, and he needed to try and work out what could really be going on here. There had to be something, but he didn’t know what. He may have said that Emily was disloyal, but he didn’t actually believe it. At least, he didn’t think he did.


	11. Chapter 11

This was a day that Trey hadn’t been looking forward too. He had been hoping that he could continue getting the prescription from his old psychologist a while longer, but she had decided that it was time Trey had a psychiatrist in DC, especially if he was going to be living there long term. He had been glad to see that the man who had diagnosed him was still practicing, so he made the appointment with Dr Burke. At least he knew that he had enough meds to see him through. “Long time no see. I was surprised to get your call, you’ve not been my patient for years.” It was not quite the welcome he’d been hoping for. But he’d been a difficult patient ten years earlier. He wasn’t that anymore.

“I moved to the West Coast. I was there until January.” He had actually loved it there, it was sunny and warm and he had built a life there. This life was better though, he had been quite lonely back there and now he was practically never alone. Much better for him than being alone had been. Probably why he was so much more stable out here. “I came back here after my sister-in-law died and… it was time I got a new psychiatrist. Or in this case, an old psychiatrist.”

“I can understand that.” Ah, there it was. Part of why Trey had always been a bit of a problem was the general attitude. Trey was going to try and pretend that he wasn’t annoyed by it now. He was an adult, he could ignore it. “I’m glad you’re reconnecting with your brother though.” They had been at their worst the last time Trey had been here.

“We’re doing well, I think.” He and Tom were definitely getting along, even if they didn’t always see eye to eye about Trey’s life choices. He knew that this was just a start for them both, and then there was everything else he had here. “I’m even more settled now, not just Tom.” Given his history, Trey was even happier to say that he was settled in a relationship than he was to explain that he and Tom were getting along again. “I have a partner now, too. We’re pretty serious. I moved in with her, actually.”

“How long have you been together?” That question always seemed to come up and people didn’t seem to know what to think when he said that it had only been a few months. At least it was months now, not just weeks. He had even finally gotten the approval of her mother, though that had taken longer than he wanted to admit.

“Almost four months.” He eventually answered, bringing his thoughts back to the actual conversation and not the tangents that he was going off in. “I know it seems quick. I know it does but it’s not the disease. I’m medicated, I’m in control.” Trey felt that it was important to stress that, as he was used to people blaming  “She asked me and I love her, I can’t imagine being anywhere else.”

It was easier to talk about Kendra than anything else and Trey really didn’t want to have to think about what it was that he’d done to get here. Hopefully, they could stay on the subject of his partner than about anything else that had been going on, at least until he felt more settled. “How did you meet her?”

“She works for Tom. She’s his lawyer.” Once again, that didn’t really sound like it was a good thing because she was connected to his brother. It was something he felt like he needed to explain so that nobody thought that was the only reason. “We may have met that way but we got close working on other things, going to other things. Things that weren’t connected to Tom.”

“The President’s lawyer is… Kendra Daynes, right?” Burke asked, clearly recalling that information from somewhere. With her position, it wasn’t as though her name wasn’t out there. It was one of the reasons they hadn’t really gone public with their relationship even though it made them both happy. “I saw her in the news before the First Lady died, she seems very sweet.”

“Yeah, she’s absolutely amazing. One of the only people I’ve ever known who hasn’t immediately written me off for having a disorder. Her mom has MS though, so she’s always been used to dealing with a lifelong illness.” Trey was thankful for that as he didn’t have to explain any of it to her. Sure it was different when it was a mental illness to a physical illness but there were still some basic similarities. “She knows all about this, the disease. I’m open with her about how it affects me. I don’t want her to be thinking I’m hiding anything from her.” He was soon just unburdening himself and he felt better for it. Explaining how meeting Kendra was what showed him that his previous relationships were not really serious. Some may have been long-term, but they weren’t serious. Not like this one.

He got the meds that he’d gone for and then decided that it was going to be easier to go and speak to Tom than go home before meeting Kendra. Since he’d moved in with Kendra he hadn’t spent as much time with his family as he’d used to and he did miss them. Leo was leaving for Stanford soon and Trey was glad to spend what time he could here. When the kids left them alone Tom sat and handed him a mug of tea. “How did it go?”

“Not bad, I have another three months of my meds and an appointment two weeks before they’ll run out.” That had been his main goal, but the meeting had made him think about what there was in his relationship. Were they moving to fast? He didn’t think so but he wondered what other people thought. “Do you think Ken and I are moving too quickly?”

“Trey, I’m probably not the person to ask. By the time Alex and I had been together four months we found out about Leo.” Trey barely remembered that time, it was in his pre-medicated situations where he was running around with anyone and everyone. Cheating on his partners and nothing mattering to him. Tom jumped over that and then asked the only question that mattered. “Do you regret moving in with her?”

“Not for a second.” He shook his head. Did it matter what anyone else thought if he and Kendra were happy, and he thought they were happy. He certainly was and he thought that Kendra was too. She’d not mentioned being unhappy anyway. He needed to stop doubting himself when they were enjoying their time together. “She and I had a talk last week about the future”

“Really?” Tom seemed even more surprised that Trey had been himself about what came out of that conversation. He was still so surprised that Kendra wanted to have a family with him because it never seemed like something that anyone wanted with him before and knowing that Kendra was thinking that far ahead made him feel like there was really a future in this.

“Well, it’s not exactly a secret that Kendra wants a family and I think she wanted to know where I stood on it.” He was going to let Tom try and work it all out for himself. Trey had never really said one way or another whether he wanted to have children, but he had always thought that it would be something he thought he’d enjoy.

“Did you have an answer?” Tom asked, not coming down on one side or the other. Trey couldn’t really blame him for that. “You’ve never really been one to settle down.” That was also true. His relationships, some of them long-term, had never been about settling down or having families. This was different though, Trey knew that. He’d never felt like this before.

“I know, and that’s a valid criticism, but she’s different.” He hoped that he could at the very least convince his brother of that because it would make everything so much easier. Tom being on his side would remind him that he always had support. Kendra was that person too, and Trey couldn’t believe exactly how much he felt for her. “I wake up in the morning and until I remember she’s there I actually miss her. I want to spend my life with her and I see you with Penny and Leo and I want that too.”

“Do you think you’ll be able to manage it?” That was a question that had been plaguing him since the conversation he’d had with Kendra. She seemed so confident in his abilities and that did reassure him but at the same time, there were so many things that could go wrong. His meds could stop working or he could get sick and have to come off them. There were so many things that might happen but that was really the same for everyone, wasn’t it? There wasn’t much he could do.

“I hope so. That’s the best I can do.” He trailed off and all of a sudden didn’t want to talk about that anymore. He still had thinking to do it seemed. Casting around for something else to talk about he wondered how Tom was coping with the news about Emily. He probably hadn’t “Kendra told me about Emily being the one who leaked all the information, how are you coping with that?”

“I’m honestly… not sure how I feel.” Tom said quietly, not questioning the change in the subject at all. “She admitted it to Seth, and then again to Kendra so it had to be true.” Trey had known that Kendra was talking to Emily but he just really hoped that she hadn’t gone alone. Seth’s comments to her had led to her crying for an entire night already. Trey just let Tom talk, thinking this may be the only time he got to actually talk about it. “I trusted her and the fact that I’m now being proven to have done it wrong and I know that there is something that was going on other than what I already know. They haven’t told me but I already know there is something.”

“What do you think it is?” Trey was curious. He had picked up bits from Kendra but not really enough to have any particular insight to share. The longer they were together the less Kendra was secretive about her job. He found out almost everything anyway.

“I’m not at all sure.” Tom sighed after a few minutes of silence. Trey just nodded keeping his peace too. There was no point in saying that he agreed but couldn’t help. Tom’s next sentence reminded Trey exactly how close to his staff Tom was sometimes. “Kendra seems more stressed every time I see her, Beth and Aaron too.”

“Kendra has been stressed at home, I’ve been trying to help her relax.” She’d been saying that it was classified but he knew that she was stressed and this was just more confirmation of that. The one thing that he knew was that they would be telling Tom when he needed to know. Until then he had a country to run, and he hired them to deal with everything else. “Tom you know that she’ll tell you when you need to know. I’m sure Beth and Aaron would be the same. They are keeping it away from you for a reason right now.”

“I know that but sometimes it’s hard to remember that I don’t need to know everything and that I have to trust my staff.” Tom sighed and just stood up, picking up both the mugs they’d been drinking out of. “Want to stay for dinner?”

“Especially when you’ve known Emily longer than any of them, huh? They’ll come good for you Tom, they always have before.” Trey reassured and checked his watch. He had enough time to get down to Kendra’s office in time to surprise her before they had to leave for dinner, so he couldn’t stay tonight but he made a mental note to arrange to have Kendra up here for dinner more. “I should get going, Ken and I have reservations.”

“Don’t make me an uncle just yet, Trey,” Tom smirked as he stepped into the kitchen and Trey wondered if, somehow, his brother was aware of exactly what it was that had caused he and Kendra to have this conversation to begin with. That was another good question that he hadn’t considered though, when had protection even become optional for them? It hadn’t always been. It didn’t matter, anyway, he was happy about it either way but it did mean he couldn’t tell Tom that he wouldn’t.

“I can’t make any promises.” He joked, though he had no intentions yet. It was an option, he and Kendra were both aware that it could happen at any time with how they were choosing to approach that part of their lives, but it wasn’t the plan just yet. He chuckled to himself all the way through to the West Wing, glad that his security pass got him through with no questions.

He paused when he was approaching Kendra’s office. Jamie, her assistant, wasn’t in his usual spot at the desk outside but the door was open a crack. Trey didn’t normally have a worry with going into Kendra’s office he did worry a little given what he and Tom had been talking about. He went up slowly and heard Kendra’s voice. “We should be thinking about this, Aaron. A tail would be appropriate.”

“He’s our friend, Ken.” Without even seeing Aaron’s posture Trey could tell that he was uncomfortable. There was something about Kendra that managed to make even the largest men seem small when she was disagreeing with them and that was what happened in Trey’s mind. Aaron hunching over a little, hands in his pockets. Trey could see it so clearly in his mind.

“But we don’t know if he’ll go see Emily again and with everything he now knows that could end almost everything.” This was what they were hiding from Tom, wasn’t it. Something else to do with Emily and whatever was going on. Trey could guess who the other person they were talking about was, but he didn’t want to say without really thinking it through.

“Emily is under surveillance, Kendra. If Seth goes there we get the agents on her to stop him.” Aaron’s voice was pleading and Trey could understand why. The tone was clear that Emily had done something and they were worried about Seth letting her know that they were onto her.

“Alright fine. Fine.” That was not a sound that Trey heard often, Kendra giving in on a debate. Then again, he didn’t know how long they’d been talking about this before he arrived. “If he’s not back by Monday though. He isn’t even talking to Lyor.” Well, that was something that was concerning when it came to Seth, but Trey couldn’t ask. “I really didn’t think that leak could be Emily… we have her under surveillance.”

“We can’t afford to watch her all the time. We’ll have to eat that one.” Aaron responded and Trey had an answer to what it was that Tom had been thinking about. “Do you think it’s treas-“

That was it, he couldn’t let them finish that sentence so he knocked on the door and plastered on a smile. “Hey, you done? We have reservations at 7.” He directed that to Kendra before turning and nodding slightly to the NSA, who’s hands were in his pockets exactly as Trey had imagined. “Aaron.”

“Trey.” Aaron returned before he looked to Kendra and accepted the privacy of their conversation was gone so he just headed to the door and stopped before he stepped out. “I’ll see you in the morning to talk about the next step.”

“Yeah. I totally forgot what time our reservations were.” Kendra frowned after Aaron as she spoke then picked up the papers on her desk. Once she looked back up to him the worry melted away from her expression and Trey saw the frown replaced with a genuine smile. “I’ll be ready in five minutes I just need to go give these to Lyor.”

“I’ll wait right here.” He confirmed as she headed to the door, once she was gone he collapsed onto the sofa and thought through what he’d overheard. That one word wouldn’t leave his mind, treason. They suspected Emily of treason and they hadn’t told Tom yet. No doubt they were waiting to have enough evidence to tell him. Trey needed to stop thinking about it. He trusted Kendra and he knew that she would be doing the best she could. When she came back he decided to just forget about it all and instead tell her what he and his brother had been talking about. “I told Tom about our chat.”

“Wait… which chat?” Kendra asked as she was putting her things away. Trey suddenly realised how much she really did trust him as she’d left papers she normally locked away just on her desk while leaving him alone. More support for the decision he had made to let it all go the way it was going to go without pushing. “We talk a lot, babe.”

“The one about kids and us having them.” Which again, wasn’t the most helpful of descriptions as they had had two or three conversations since the initial one. He hoped that she’d know which one he meant.

“The one we had a week ago while I was naked?” Trey wondered why she felt that that was something that she needed to mention in regards to it but she wasn’t wrong and she had been naked. He reached up and pulled her onto the sofa beside him, wrapping an arm around her shoulders as he did.

“Yeah, that’s the one.” He smirked and leant over to kiss her neck before reassuring her that nobody else would know they had that particular conversation in bed. “I didn’t tell him you were naked, that’s something for my knowledge only.” He kissed her neck again before pulling back. “As I was leaving tonight he said ‘don’t make me an uncle yet’ and it got me thinking.”

“Got you thinking about…?” Kendra prompted after a few minutes and Trey had to try and think of the best way to phrase the question. It wasn’t exactly something that either of them had seemed to consciously think about at the time but it seemed like an important thing to address, even if it was a little late.

“When did we make the decision to stop using protection?” It came out a lot more blunt than he’d intended for it too but he thought that there was actually no good way to ask this question. There was no way that he could phrase it that it wasn’t going to sound harsh. “I’m not complaining about it but we just seemed to stop.”

“You know… that’s a good question.” Kendra said quietly as she thought about it too. Trey couldn’t really put his finger on exactly when it had happened and maybe Kendra could. “I think… I think it was when you moved in. I mean, we’re both clean and technically it _is_ a sin.”

Trey had to chuckle at that. While he had been slightly relieved when he’d learnt that Kendra was as relaxed about some of the religious teachings they both liked to tease each other about it. “We’re having sex before we’re married, whichever way we look at it it’s a sin.” He joked and then leant to kiss her again. “We won’t tell Father Lance.”

“Yeah. I think he’d have a problem with that.” Kendra laughed and cuddled up to him as she carried on thinking out loud. “I guess we have a problem then, we’re both practicing Catholics, even if you haven’t told your brother you still practice… so we need to decide.” Trey stayed quiet, letting her get out her options before he said something. “No sex, use protection or accept eternal damnation if we get pregnant before marriage.”

“No sex is not an option.” If the choice was between damnation and not having sex with the woman he loved he’d pick damnation every time and he had the feeling that Kendra was the same. Trey remembered she’d mentioned something before once about an app but he hadn’t really been paying attention. “What about that app, the natural birth control one?”

“I’ve been using that too.” She nodded then moved a little so that she could kiss him a few times, each one getting a little deeper than the last and Trey just smiled stupidly after each one. “Right now… I’m willing to accept the consequences of a pre-marital pregnancy.”

“Yeah, and you don’t want to stop having sex either.” He knew that was true and decided to prove it by kissing her deeply and leaning over her slightly. He couldn’t resist when they started doing something like this, not really caring where they were.

“Trey, this is still my office.” Kendra said after a few minutes, pushing him back a little as she looked around and stroked his cheek then played with his collar in the way she always did while they were having a good make-out session.

“And we just had a long conversation about sex and contraception with the doors open, can’t complain anymore.” He hadn’t known the doors were open and just took a guess, but it was quite likely they were since nobody else was really around at the moment anyway.

“Fine, you win.” She laughed and started kissing him back for a minute before she pulled back and just grinned widely at him. “Reservations.” Of course, she remembered that. Trey cursed silently as he knew that neither of them would really want to miss dinner either. He just made a mental note to make it up to her when they got home. It would be a good night, and maybe he could make her forget her stress for a little while too.


	12. Chapter 12

Lyor wasn’t really sure what he’d been expecting this morning but the staff briefing being as empty as it was was not one of them. He’d just expected that Seth would have returned by now despite nobody hearing from him for over a week. Lyor had taken Kendra’s advice and not pushed him but now he was really worried. The others all tried to act normal but it was clear that they were all uncomfortable with the fact that Seth still hadn’t returned. Lyor hadn’t been sleeping well while Seth had been absent, and that was definitely starting to affect his mood. “Still no Seth?” Was the first question asked when they all entered Beth’s office, but Lyor didn’t yet have the patience to answer.

“No. I haven’t seen him since he walked out last Monday.” Kendra shook her head, they all just made sounds agreeing with her and Lyor knew that, eventually, the question would come to him. He and Seth were… well whatever they were, and they would all assume that he’d been talking to him. That wasn’t the case though, Lyor wished that it were.

“I’ve unofficially put him on leave since we don’t know when he’ll be back, but we’re going to need an answer soon.” Beth had done more for him than many would given that he had walked out with no warning, no explanation and no indication of when he’d return. Lyor knew that in most careers he wouldn’t have got that kind of treatment, he’d have been looking for a new job.

He wasn’t even listening at first as ideas were bandied around of what they could do. “Trauma? Dealing with what happened to him in Taurasi.” That was the one that got his attention and he was a little surprised that it came from Kendra. The one person in this room who had seen both he and Seth at their worst since then.

“It’s been more than four months since then, Kendra.” Lyor snapped. He didn’t like the implication that they couldn’t handle what had happened there. Both he and Seth had managed to come through it with help. He knew that that was nothing to do with what they were talking about but he still didn’t like it.

“Delayed traumatisation is a psychological thing, Lyor, I think Kendra has a valid thought.” Of course, Aaron would side with Kendra. It was almost a joke at this point that he wasn’t going to disagree with the lawyer, but he didn’t leave it at that, carrying on speaking as Lyor fell into an annoyed silence. “It wouldn’t be a total lie, either. He clearly wasn’t dealing great with what we told him.”

“How is he doing?” Beth asked quietly and Lyor looked at her a moment before realising that they were all expecting him to be the one to answer. He hadn’t actually gotten to speak to Seth even though he’d wanted too.

“I have no idea. He’s not let me in since last week.” Lyor had tried every night and he felt Kendra’s hand on his shoulder sympathetically. Lyor wouldn’t admit it but he actually missed Seth more than he was trying to let on. He didn’t want to think that this could be something permanent. Seth was just being stubborn and he needed to be pushed out of this mood.

Beth just nodded though and turned to Aaron and Kendra, though Lyor was secretly grateful Kendra kept her hand on his shoulder. “So he’s not left his apartment in a week and as far as we know he hasn’t contacted Emily?” Lyor suddenly realised what they were thinking and he wanted to yell that Seth wasn’t that guy. He wouldn’t betray them but the more he thought about it the more he realised they had to ask.

“No,” Aaron said and Lyor was even more annoyed about that because it sounded that they didn’t trust Seth. He may have taken the news hard but he would get over it, Lyor knew that. This shouldn’t even be a question. “Should we be starting to think about temporarily replacing him?”

“Wait, why?” He couldn’t stay quiet any longer. Worrying that he might tell Emily about the investigation was one thing but actually replacing him was a step too far. They could make up reasons for why he wasn’t there. They could make it seem like less of a big deal than it was but he knew that they wouldn’t.

“Because it’s going to start causing issues with the press, Lyor. We can play with him being sick for last week but this week…” Beth trailed off as she tried to explain the thinking and normally Lyor would be agreeing but this was _Seth_. There had to be a loyalty there that maybe the others didn’t have but he couldn’t let it go.

“Beth has a point, Lyor,” Kendra said quietly behind him. That didn’t help his mood because he’d expected for her to be on their side and to tell the others it was ridiculous. They hadn’t even spoken about it with the President, was it fair without his input. “With nobody speaking to him, we have to start making preparations for if he doesn’t come back.”

“What if I promise he’ll be back to work tomorrow?” Lyor said, at first to Kendra then repeating it to Aaron and Beth. “I promise you that Seth will be here tomorrow morning.” It was a big ask but he knew he could do it if he was as stubborn as Seth claimed he was. He could make sure Seth returned.

“If you get him back we’ll think again but he needs to be here, working too not just here,” Beth said clearly feeling very firm about the situation. Seth coming back was going to be hard but Lyor knew that once he was here he’d do the work. It was just going to be convincing him to come back that was the biggest problem.

“Alright. I’ll get it done.” He nodded again softly and as the meeting started to break up he just repeated it again. “I’ll get him back.” It was a personal challenge to himself too, to make sure that Seth was back here and back involved with them all. All that required was him making a plan.

Non-political plans were not always his forte, either, but he had an idea. What he needed to do was show that there was enough evidence to warrant this suspicion on Emily. That meant showing him the whole file and that was not something that he had a copy of. He was going to have to get either Kendra or Aaron on board for this. They would both probably help him as Seth was their friend, but it would be easier to go for the one he had a better relationship with. After writing up what he had so far of a plan he walked through towards Kendra’s office, trying to project an attitude so that nobody would stop him on the way. She was nearer his office than he expected and as he stepped up beside her he spoke to get her attention. “Kendra.”

“What’s up?” She asked, looking up from one of the three files she was carrying. He had no idea what she was doing but he guessed that she wasn’t actually going to be all that receptive to his request. Maybe he should have gone with Aaron after all. He was here now though, it wouldn’t be new that he was annoying people though he’d been trying to get better at it.

“You’re not going doing anything, right?” Not that he cared that much really anyway. He followed her as they turned toward her office. If she was truly busy she would have shaken him off by now but instead, she had just looked back to her file and carried on walking. “I need to talk to you.”

“I’m the lawyer for the White House during a congressional session and presidential election but, no, I’m not.” There was a heavy sigh as she spoke and Lyor couldn’t help but feel a little annoyed by that. It somewhat implied that he wasn’t busy. He was, but he just had something else that he needed to focus on right now. For one day his boyfriend and his reputation could come before his work.  

“That was unnecessarily hostile.” He fired back, feeling his own annoyance jump up, though that was probably partly because he hated that he was having to do this. He didn’t like that Seth had taken this so badly, he didn’t like that Seth wasn’t speaking to any of them and he didn’t like that nobody else seemed to be as concerned as he was.

“Lyor what do you need?” She didn’t apologise but Lyor didn’t care. As long as she listened then helped him he didn’t care how mad she was at him. They’d get over it, they always had before. Sure normally he was being this annoying for the President, but he thought that it was appropriate that he was this annoying when it came to someone he cared about.

“I need the file.” Kendra would appreciate the bluntness, but she stared at him as they came to a stop outside her office. She then unlocked the door and held it open for him, but he didn’t move. He felt like he might be more successful if he stayed out where people could hear them.

“Inside.” She growled after a few seconds of him not moving and while Lyor wasn’t normally worried about Kendra, that tone of voice was something that he didn’t like to hear. She was probably right, this was a sensitive situation, but he still wasn’t all that happy to leave the corridor. “Why do you need the file? I assume you mean Emily’s file.”

Lyor nodded and then just sat on her sofa and pulled the bit of paper he’d scribbled on. “Because if I’m going to convince Seth to come back I’m going to have to show him how strong the case against Emily is.” Lyor hoped that logic would work, it was all he had left but he thought that it would work. “He won’t believe it until he sees it in black and white.”

“I don’t know he’ll believe it then,” Kendra said quietly, verbalising the fear that Lyor had. He wasn’t going to let that go into his mind. “None of us thought that Emily was capable of this, it wasn’t just that he missed it, we all did.” That was part of the thing that they were all feeling guilty about. That none of them had seen it before it had been far too late.

“She is guilty, isn’t she?” He didn’t think that he needed to ask, he’d seen all the evidence once but there was still that one small part of him that thought that his old friend Emily couldn’t really have done something like this. She couldn’t have become a traitor when she was so dedicated. Power changed people, though, and maybe that was what had happened here.

“She is. Without doubt.” Kendra nodded again and Lyor felt his frown flatten a little. Kendra went into the locked drawer of her desk and pulled out one of the three identical files that he knew she had in there. “It’s just to what degree she’s guilty that we need to work out.”

“You could always come with me.” Lyor didn’t know why he offered that but he felt that it was the right thing to do. Kendra knew far more about this case than he did and she was Seth’s friend too. He didn’t think that she was actually going to agree to go though. A lot was going on in her mind about Seth for the moment.

“I think it’s best I stay away from him right now. I appreciate the offer, though.” She sounded more polite than Lyor had actually expected and maybe she was just as tired as he was. And he was tired, more tired than he could ever actually remember being before.

“If you’re sure,” Lyor asked and Kendra slid into the chair behind her desk and nodded. Lyor knew that she had been upset by what Seth had said a week earlier and he didn’t really know what to do about it other than he knew that Seth wouldn’t have meant it. Maybe that was all he could say. “He didn’t mean what he said, Kendra.”

“Doesn’t stop it hurting.” Kendra frowned a little and Lyor actually felt a little bad for her. He didn’t think that Seth would have realised that she’d take it so hard. After a second she just shook it off and held the file out to him. “I’ll be fine, call me when you’re done and if this file is seen by anyone else I’m going to kill you.”

“It’ll be alright, I promise.” That wasn’t something that Lyor ever did, there was so little that could be promised in politics but this was something that he knew he could fix. He could bring Seth back and he would help them rebuild their friendship. It was just going to take some dedication. Thankfully, Lyor was good at that part of their lives. He didn’t wait any longer, once he had the file he set straight off for Seth’s apartment, determined he would be leaving in the morning with Seth.

The door stayed closed but one of Seth’s neighbours recognised him and let him in, he then stood outside Seth’s apartment, not at all caring what anyone else thought about this. “Open the door, Seth.” He hammered on the door and thought of something that might actually work. “I’m not above calling the fire department to get them to come and perform a wellness check.” He yelled it through the still closed door, it felt almost like it was taunting him now. “I know you can hear me. Alright, I’m dialling.” That was enough for the door to open a crack.

“What the hell do you want, Lyor? I don’t want to see you.” Seth’s voice cracked as he said that and Lyor had a feeling that he knew he hadn’t hidden that lie very well. Lyor put his hand and foot in the way of the door to stop it closing and when Seth moved a little he pushed it open more.

“I don’t care.” He said and as Seth stepped back to open the door fully, Lyor stepped around him into the room. He ignored the smell of take out and beer and focused on the man in front of him. The one who had clearly not taken any of this very well. “You have to come back to work.” Though Lyor would recommend a shower before he did.

“With disloyal people? No.” Seth argued and Lyor just sighed. They all said that he was the stubborn one, but the fact was everyone who worked in this White House were just as bad as each other.

“They aren’t the disloyal ones, Seth… and deep down I think you know that.” There was an argument that in a way everyone was disloyal to someone, but that was a philosophical debate that he’d save for another day. “Nobody wants to believe that Emily did this but there is so much evidence.”

“None of it I’ve seen.” Seth sank onto the sofa and covered his face. He didn’t sound as confident as he had a week ago. Right now he sounded like he was ready to give up fighting on this and just needed to know the truth. They all needed to know that, and maybe this file would help Seth there.

“I have it with me.” He said simply then held the red file up as Seth looked up. “Kendra gave it to me to help prove to you that this isn’t just some random accusation.” Lyor went to put it on the table so they could both read it. “Let’s sit down and we’ll go through it and you can see.” It was a lot, Lyor knew that, but it was what they both needed to do.

There were pages and pages of detailed notes, sworn statements from witnesses that had been tracked down not to mention everything that had been in Valeria’s various safe-houses. Lyor hadn’t even realised how far this had gone but now he did. There was more here even than when Kendra had last shown him. “This is…” Seth stammered as he held up more pictures.

“Yeah.” Lyor agreed, knowing what Seth meant without him needing to say anything. There was so much here that nobody could argue with it now. They had to go through the motions and pretend that there was nothing going on but Lyor was completely convinced now and the look on Seth’s face said that maybe, just maybe, he was there too.

“She really did it didn’t she?” He asked after another few moments of silence. Lyor was fairly sure that he could guess at the questions that were running through Seth’s mind, half of them were still running through Lyor’s mind and though they wouldn’t admit it, he was sure that Kendra and Aaron were still debating the same questions too. “How did she do all this without any of us noticing. We worked with her every day.”

“She was good at hiding it, and at manipulating us to not see what she was doing.” That was what Lyor assumed, anyway. The things that Seth had told him about when they were dating certainly seemed to support his hypothesis. “I think the only person to see through it was Kendra and that’s why she tried to isolate her. That was only on certain things too, Kendra was caught out by this as much as the rest of us.”

“How is this happening?” Seth frowned, looking down at the picture in his hands. Emily and Valeria clearly eating dinner, a file open on the desk between them. Even if it was innocent the picture was enough to call into question Emily’s loyalty. Lyor recognised the seal on the paper head though, and that was what really made it questionable.

“We’ll get through it, but you owe Kendra an apology when you get round to it.” Lyor was going to have to keep pushing that after he’d seen how hurt Kendra was. He hadn’t expected her to take it anywhere near that hard but she had. “Finish working this out while you work. You need to come back tomorrow.”

“Alright. I’ll come back.” Seth nodded, and Lyor felt like he’d won the lottery. He’d promised Kendra that this would be okay and Lyor believed that this was one step in the right direction. “I just need to work this through. I was dating her.”

“I doubt anyone would suspect you, Seth,” Lyor said before he even really thought that through but then his mind went back to the staff briefing this morning and how ready people had been to believe that maybe he had spoken to Emily and maybe he’d been doing things that he shouldn’t have been and he had to think twice.

“Maybe not out loud… but wouldn’t you?” That was a loaded question and one that Lyor knew would have a different answer if Seth hadn’t been his partner. The truth was that if it was anyone else he would be worried. “I’m going to have to clear my name and I’m not sure that I have the strength.”

“Make up with Kendra and talk to her about it, I’m sure it’s not as bad as you think.” That was something that they would all need to do. They were probably all going to need their own counsel before long as they were all material witnesses in this case. Lyor was worried about where this was going to go and what it was going to do to Seth, but for the moment he was willing to let it all just go as it was. He’d see where it was going, then work out how best to protect them both when he knew who they were fighting.


	13. Chapter 13

Kendra wasn’t feeling great today. She’d known that Lyor would bring Seth back today but she somehow still hadn’t managed to mentally prepare herself for it. So she’d spent the day trying to avoid him. She knew that he didn’t mean what he’d said but it had still bothered her. She had no idea how long she’d been sat in her chair staring at the floor as she thought it through but eventually she was distracted from what she was thinking about by her favourite voice to hear out of the blue. “Hey, got time for lunch?”

“With you, always.” Trey managed to bring her out of the worst moods just by being there. He didn’t try to push her more than she was ready for and he never asked what was bothering her in case she couldn’t say. It actually made her open up to him more. She trusted that he wouldn’t say anything that he shouldn’t. “I really needed to be distracted from work today too. Seth is back and it’s just… awkward.”

“Still not sure how to feel about it, huh?” He knew that she’d been struggling with what Seth had said and that it was playing on her mind. She knew that she wasn’t the person that Emily made her out to be but here was a part of her that still doubted from time to time.

“Not really.” She admitted, putting the files down and getting up, going to sit on the sofa and motioning for Trey to come over. She didn’t have any lunch and it didn’t look like he’d brought anything but she didn’t need to eat, the company was the important thing for her right now. “I know he was just angry and he didn’t mean it but I’m still really hurt by it.”

“Sometimes knowing the intention doesn’t make it any better.” He replied quietly and Kendra nodded, wishing that it was different. She wished that knowing that Seth only said it because he was angry was enough but it just wasn’t and she had internalised it maybe more than she would normally have done. After a few seconds of sitting in silence, Trey pulling her into his arms as they did, he spoke quietly and reminded her of the other big thing happening today. “I’m going shopping with your mom this afternoon.”

“I know she told me. She’s looking forward to it.” That was an understatement. Trey had made their first meeting a bit of a disaster but once she got past the shock Judith Daynes had found it quite entertaining. Kendra was still worried that that thought could change at any time. “I really want you two to get along so don’t get into a fight with her.”

“What am I going to fight with her about?” Trey asked, his face a picture of innocence as he said it. Kendra didn’t know whether to burst out laughing or to remind him again that she and her mother spoke three times a day and she would know before he’d even left Judith’s driveway if anything happened.

She wasn’t normally all that suspicious when it came to Trey, but his dynamic with her mother was something that she was definitely suspicious about. It wasn’t easy to get on Judith’s good side and now that Trey was there Kendra really needed for him not to ruin it. “I don’t know, that’s part of the problem.”

“Ken I promise not to fight with your mother. We’re cool with each other now.” He kissed the top of her head as he said that then snorted, which actually just made her a little more annoyed. He clearly thought that some of her worries about this were a joke. Kendra didn’t think they were a joke. “She thinks it’s funny.”

“She did not think it was funny at first. She thought that you were rude!” This was probably going to be a debate they had for the entire length of their relationship, however long that was blessed to be, and Kendra was fairly sure that her judgement was probably going to be the one that was confirmed as being the right one in this case.

“I didn’t realise she was going to be sensitive to it!” He exclaimed, still managing to have a note of surprise in his voice that Judith hadn’t found his terribly off-colour joke amusing. Honestly, if they’d known him better it probably would have been funnier than it was on the first meeting and that of course meant that she had to remind him of it forever.

“You asked if her legs still worked!” Kendra tried to sound serious but the giggles slipped into her voice. She shouldn’t have found it funny but she did. In hindsight at least. At the time she was convinced that she was going to be called on to write a very eloquent eulogy.

“In my defence I’m sure a lot of people wonder that… and she kicked me. Hard.” Kendra still remembered the thunk under the table and her knowing exactly what had happened even though she hadn’t been able to see what was happening. It was something she’d done to boyfriends before, but that was normally when they were being a little too handsy.

“You deserved it.” There was nothing that he’d deserved more at that time. Kendra remembered when she was a child that Judith had told her nothing would be resolved through physical violence, and in a perfect world that was true, but they didn’t live in a perfect world and so Kendra believed a little violence would be a deterrent.

“I don’t deny that. I did.” Trey chuckled and kissed the top of her head again, both of them lapsing back into silence as they thought about that night again. It wasn’t exactly what Kendra would have wanted but it had ended well. “That was four months ago though, Ken. We get along well now. It’s almost September.”

“Yeah.” She nodded a little and her eyes fell back on the stack of paperwork on her desk. Everything that she needed to get through and file before she was going to be able to go home and she had important meetings coming up this afternoon that were going to stop her from actually being able to do the work before she went home. “I better get back to work.”

“Think you’ll be home late tonight?” Trey didn’t like being in the house alone, Kendra knew that, and if she was going to be late he’d come back to the White House and wait for her. She wasn’t going to let it go late tonight, though. She wanted to have chances to get home on time, if only so she could cook and feel like they were a real couple.

“Hopefully not. I’ll call you.” At least if she called him before he got home he would know where was best to come and she would be able to think about what was going to be he right way to go for tonight. There was just one more thing she wanted to say to him before he left. “Love you.”

“Love you.” He smiled then came back and kissed her softly before he headed out the door. There was a part of Kendra that deeply wished that she’d been able to go with him but she had to work and Trey had to go and bond with her mother. Kendra wished she could be a fly-on-the-wall for that. The stories were going to be great.

Instead she was still silently wishing that she’d left with him when the next thing on her agenda pushed his head around the door. Aaron looked exactly as stressed as Kendra was feeling and she hated that it had come to this point. “Kendra, come on.” He said simply and she grabbed the files off of her desk and went to join Aaron out in the corridor, making sure that her office was locked up. When did she get this suspicious about everything? Then again, with what they were dealing with suspicion was probably healthy.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” She had to ask again as they headed down to the offices that held a lot of the NSA offices. Kendra actually didn’t mind being down here but for this situation she would rather not have been. She had had serious doubts about Hannah Wells coming back to the White House but she’d been overruled by Aaron and Mike.

“She was cleared and we need her expertise.” The same old argument that he’d been giving her for days but it still didn’t really make her feel much better. It had been good luck that she’d gotten the President off from all the problems she’d caused before. “If she goes off the reservation again we don’t have an option to hand her over.”

“We’ll have to press that on her. Hopefully caring for a minor would help that.” Well, at least now her situation with Amy was public, though Kendra wasn’t sure if it was actually public or if Aaron was still close to her. “She’s being brought through to us through the basement anyway.” Kendra just stared at him as they stepped into the empty office and frowned. “You still don’t think it’s a good idea?”

“I think there are other agents who could do better. Cops who could do it better.” Kendra wasn’t going to be ashamed that she had a plan B for this, and it was going to be the only way that she would accept this ridiculous plan that Aaron had thought up. “I’ve actually thought of that when you said you were thinking of bringing Hannah back.”

“Another agent? To what… replace her?” Aaron looked a little offended but Kendra knew she wasn’t that lucky. She liked Hannah, considered her a friend, but she also considered her a liability to the President and she needed to put the President first. That was what her job was all about.

“No, to work with her. A good friend of mine.” There was nothing that she was going to apologise for here. It wasn’t as though it was someone she’d only just met, this was a friend she’d had since before she did government work. “She’ll be here in a few minutes too.”

“Kendra.” Aaron cautioned with just a hint of annoyance in his tone but she was standing her ground. He could huff and puff but she had as much power over this as he did and she knew what they needed. “This wasn’t what we agreed to do.”

“Aaron, trust me.” She quietly implored. There was nothing she hated more than having to do this to begin with but she wasn’t going to force anyone to agree with her plan but she wasn’t going to agree to something she fundamentally disagreed with either, and Hannah was dangerous if she didn’t have someone to control her. “She’ll be a good counterpoint to Hannah. They’ll hate each other but they’ll work well together. This is the only way I’m going to sign off on it.”

“I don’t know how I feel about it, it doesn’t seem like a good idea.” Aaron sighed and Kendra had to enjoy the irony of him saying that when she hadn’t thought that any of this was a good idea to begin with. Kendra didn’t care if Aaron wasn’t happy, just like she didn’t really care that she wasn’t happy with the original plan if this worked.

“Then neither of us are happy. It sounds like politics.” For someone who had been a career politician until the point where he’d been named NSA he would surely have to appreciate that. A solution that nobody was happy with really did sound just like the entire spectacle that was politics. At least to Kendra it did.

After a second Aaron burst out laughing and just dropped his chin to his chest. At least that made it sound like he couldn’t disagree. “I wish you weren’t right about that.” He laughed a little more and then abruptly stopped when there was a knock at the door. “Showtime. Come in.”

“Kendra, Aaron.” They both stiffened a little as Hannah came in the room, though Kendra couldn’t understand why. Maybe it was the fact they were doing this without any permission from higher up. Normally they’d need Beth or the President to sign off on this, but Kendra would take the heat for a while and do it herself. Hannah looked around a little then just shook her head. “I don’t know why I expected there to be more people here.”

“Nobody else knows you were invited back other than the Secret Service that brought you down here and Mike,” Aaron said, which gave Kendra another few seconds to settle the argument in her head. She still didn’t really want to do this, but if there were her deals she could deal with it. “We need you, Hannah.”

“Emily. You want me to come out of the shadows investigating her?” Hannah was faster even than Kendra had expected. Sure she hadn’t done the majority of the investigating in the light recently. Most of it had been through Chuck too, though Kendra hadn’t thought of bringing him in. Maybe they should depending on how it went with the first few days.

“We do, but we don’t want you doing it alone. I’ve arranged for someone to partner up with you.” Kendra said before Aaron could say anything else. She knew there would be push back against this because Hannah had never been a fan of having anyone else working with her but this wasn’t how this would go.

“I work alone.” Hannah’s reaction was exactly what Kendra had been thinking it would be and it made her even more grateful that she’d decided not to wait to bring someone else in. She could have allowed herself to be talked out of it if she hadn’t already arranged it.

“Not anymore you don’t,” Kendra said, but Aaron put his hand on her shoulder before she could say anything else. It was probably best that he cut her off like this because she would almost certainly have pushed Hannah away from doing this at all, and even if she had doubts it wasn’t worth torpedoing the best chance they had of catching Emily and whoever else was working with her.

“Hannah with everything that went on before we can’t leave you alone and so Kendra has arranged for you to team up with someone.” Almost at that moment, Kendra’s phone buzzed with a notification that her appointment had arrived upstairs, which was perfect timing. Aaron could talk Hannah into this.

“She’s upstairs, I’ll go get her.” Kendra nodded a little looking at Aaron. She knew that he would back her up in the long run, even if he didn’t think it was necessarily such a good idea because they needed to be united. She didn’t rush too much, but she wanted to get this all over with. The minute she saw her friend she just smiled. “Hey, thanks for doing this.”

“It’s been a while since I’ve been doing anything that wasn’t counter terrorism. It’ll be a nice change of pace.” Macy was the last person anyone would expect to be a cop, she was four foot eleven, slimmer than a pole and had an attitude that was twice her size but she was one of the greatest cops Kendra had ever known. “Where we going?” She asked as Kendra signed her in and led her away from the main West Wing.

“We’re down in the NSA office.” She clarified, smiling as the kept walking. At least there were plenty of things that Kendra could make small talk about. You didn’t date someone for a year to not know enough about their life for small talk. “It’s so great to see you, how’s Carlene?”

“Loving being a mom. I’m still not sure I’ve settled into it but she’s doing all the parenting and I’m helping when I’m home.” Kendra had never really seen Macy as a mother, it was part of why they had broken up a few years earlier but, apparently, her current wife had talked her round from that one. “Still not sure about it but Lena is cute. I’ll show you pictures later.”

“You’ll get there, can’t wait to see the little one. Alright in here.” Kendra stopped at the door and knocked then pushed the door open and stepped in. “Aaron Shore, Hannah Wells, this is Detective Macy Cardle from the DCPD. She’s here on a favour.” Kendra smiled and stopped thinking about it. “Let’s get down to this, shall we?”

Aaron had talked Hannah down, and in the end it seemed much easier to organise than Kendra had been expecting, she was actually happy about the plan by the end of the meeting, though she still had reservations about Hannah. It seemed that this would work and she was going to be able to trust them both to do what was needed. As she walked Macy back up there was a moment of silence before Macy brought the conversation back to more personal matters. “It’s nice to see you fitting in here. I saw you were dating the President’s brother too, that’s gotta be interesting.”

“Actually, it’s really great. We keep our relationship very separate.” That was probably a bit of an understatement. She and Trey purposefully hadn’t spent that much time together with the President, though Kendra knew that was going to have to change the more serious they got. She was ready to start introducing him properly to her other friends, Macy and Carlene would actually be the perfect start. “I’d love to arrange for you and Carlene to meet him.”

“That would actually be great. I don’t think we’ve been to dinner since I introduced you to Carlene.” Had it really been that long? That was at least three years ago, but Kendra didn’t think they’d all been together much since then. “Always a little awkward introducing your ex to your new love, isn’t it?” Macy laughed as they reached the entrance foyer.

“It can be but it might be an important step, too.” She smiled and laughed when she looked around and saw Seth hovering nearby. They might be having problems but she wasn’t rude and she thought that maybe this would be the start of something that would actually help get them back on track. “Hi, Seth.” 

“Ken… can we talk?” Seth said quietly and she understood that he wanted to talk privately. At least he was looking a little sheepish and she hoped that maybe he was going to address what had happened a week earlier.

“Sure. Oh, this is Macy Cardle from the DCPD.” Kendra introduced them both and watched as Seth tried to muster attention to the cop rather than still staring at Kendra sadly.

“Nice to meet you,” Seth replied, still as quiet as he’d spoken before. This wasn’t the man that Kendra usually interacted with and she was a little worried about his mental state but possibly it was guilt too. She’d make a decision fully after they’d spoken, or she’d ask Lyor, sure this was Seth’s first day back but Lyor would know better.

“There is something going on here that I don’t understand so I’m going to go and start that job,” Macy said diplomatically and smiled before she went to walk out the door. “Call me about that dinner, Kennie.” She called back over her shoulder and Kendra just smiled a little more, glad that despite the interruption she hadn’t forgotten what they’d been discussing.

“I will.” She called back and then started walking to her office, motioning for Seth to follow her. Whatever they were going to talk about she had a feeling that they’d do better if they spoke to each other in private and she felt better about it being in her office. “What can I do for you Seth?” She asked as they stepped in, putting the files on her desk and turning to him.

“I… wanted to apologise to you.” Seth said slowly and Kendra just nodded, waiting for him to continue, though there was a part of her that wanted to let him off the hook right away. “The things I said last week were out of order and I didn’t mean them. I’m sorry.” Seth frowned a little and then just stared pacing a little as he continued. “I know that you’re only doing what you need to do… I just couldn’t believe Emily was guilty.”

“You believe it now?” She asked, not wanting to stop him if he was getting over it but she still wanted to know that he believed that they weren’t making up the allegations against Emily. It never would have been mentioned if they didn’t have the evidence. None of them wanted to cause anyone any problems for a friend but they all had a greater calling to protect

“I don’t really have a choice, there is so much evidence.” Seth sighed and then dropped onto her sofa as he passed them and looked up at her. He looked entirely defeated. “Was Macy Cardle something to do with that?”

“Macy? Oh, yeah. She’s joining the team investigating the claims against Emily.” Kendra hoped that it didn’t sound like they were sure it was Emily. She moved over and sat next to her friend and just sighed. “You really hurt me, Seth. I thought that you knew me better than that but I realised that maybe you don’t know me at all.”

“I was just mad Kendra, I didn’t mean it. You’re a better person than almost everyone here.” Seth sounded sincere, but Kendra wasn’t sure that that was true. She was holding something back from him, something she’d just found out, but she wasn’t sure that telling him was kind. He needed to know though and hearing it from her would be better than from someone he didn’t know.

“Well then… I hope that you don’t hate me for the next bit of information that I have to give you.” She looked to the floor a little because she wished that she wasn’t the one having to give him this information but she also didn’t want it to be anyone else. “She had her first meeting with Valeria on December 29th.” She knew that he could count and would know why she wanted to tell him this. “We believe that was when the initial contact was made. They spoke once a week since until Valeria’s death in Europe at the start of summer.”

“It started while… it started while we were dating?” He asked, clearly already knowing what she was saying. His hands began shaking as Kendra was watching and she reached over to put hers over them and show him that no matter what had gone on she was still there with him.

“I’m sorry, Seth.” She eventually said quietly but after a second he shrugged her off and just walked out without a word. Kendra watched him go and worried for a few moments before walking over to her desk and punching in Lyor’s phone number, his direct line. “Lyor, go check on Seth. I’ll explain more later.” She said the second he picked up and hoped that he would get to Seth before he did anything stupid. That just wasn’t going to be good for anything. Kendra was suddenly even more angry with Emily, not because she may have been a traitor but because she was putting Seth through all of this.

She tried to forget about it but she couldn’t and she decided that while she didn’t have that much left to do she’d just go and meet Trey and her mother. She never took long out of her day and it was worth it today, she wanted to be near her family and she could come in early the next morning to finish what she didn’t do now.


	14. Chapter 14

“ _She had her first meeting with Valeria on December 29 th._” The words kept spinning around in his head. Kendra had sounded so sympathetic, like she knew that what she was telling him was going to cause more pain than it was going to save. “ _I’m sorry, Seth._ ” The words sounded hollow as they echoed around his mind. What was she sorry for. That while they were dating his girlfriend had betrayed her country? That he was going to have to live with the guilt of not knowing what she was doing? That now he was going to have to convince everyone that he had had nothing to do with this? What was Kendra actually sorry about.

The walk through the halls to his office seemed almost torturously long but he knew it was maybe a minute at most. He barely remembered doing it, didn’t know if anyone had tried to speak to him along the way. All he could focus on was Kendra’s words echoing around his head. They were bringing up all these uncomfortable memories from when he was dating Emily. Her disappearing for hours and when she returned telling him that she’d been around, he must have just missed her.

Actually. A lot of the things Emily had said now made sense. She had always tried to make him feel like he was losing his mind. Changing around what he knew had happened to be what maybe she wanted it to be. At least now he knew part of why. She was colluding with the Russians, and he didn’t know what she was possibly giving them. How was he supposed to know that he was completely innocent when he didn’t even know what she’d been feeding to them.

Seth didn’t want to think about this anymore, he didn’t want to feel anymore. He looked at the picture on his desk, one of the two of them and Aaron from not long after the Capitol bombing and he just threw it across the room, his anger consuming him for a moment. The rage didn’t lessen with the picture and he grabbed the edge of the desk, upending it so that the papers and books sitting atop it went flying.

His ragged breathing caught in his ears as he looked down at the mess he had caused then just felt all desire to remain standing leave him. He dropped to the floor where he’d been standing and let out a sob. It was swiftly followed by another, then another. He gathered himself into a ball and tried to protect himself from whatever invisible spirits and demons hovered over this place. Emily’s betrayal had already been raw when he thought that it hadn’t begun until after they broke up but now he knew it had been going on while they’d been sharing a bed…

And Seth was more crushed than he actually wanted to admit to. How hadn’t he known? How had she managed to pull the wool quite so completely over his eyes? He didn’t think that any of them were that blind to the situations around them and yet here they were, dealing with all of this. Time seemed to slow and he just stayed on the floor where he’d fallen. “Seth, you in here?” He heard Lyor’s voice and he couldn’t even bring himself to call out. “What… what happened here?” The momentary terror in Lyor’s voice, followed by fear, didn’t affect Seth the way he expected, he just stared at the floor as he felt Lyor come to pull him up. “Are you alright? Come on, I’ll get Kendra to take us home.”

Seth wasn’t sure that would help, but it would be easier than nothing, but once he was home he realised that he should have seen it coming. Emily had never exactly treated him well. He should have known. For days all Seth could think about were those words. “ _She had her first meeting with Valeria on December 29 th._” It was as though they were taunting him and he knew that focusing on them wasn’t going to help him in the long run but he couldn’t stop. Every time he tried to think about anything else the anger would resurface and he blamed everyone.

He knew that he wasn’t coping with it as well as he should have been but if anyone expected him not to take this personally they were asking far too much. Seth tried to let it go when he was at home but he knew it wasn’t really going to work. Not the way that it was really deserved. Lyor didn’t deserve to be blamed for what was going on in Seth’s head but he still was.

It was worse at work. He snapped in meetings and worse he was snapping at everyone he worked with but most of all he was snapping at the press and Seth knew that that wasn’t going to end well for him. He started avoiding the briefing room, sending deputies out to brief or realising statements. No matter how angry he was, he wasn’t going to be like Emily and tell the press something that they were never meant to know. He had drank at home to try and settle him enough to sleep. Now he was drinking at work to try and give him focus.

That wasn’t enough to stop the gossip. To stop people from gossiping about his state of mind, asking if the pressures of working for the President had finally pushed him over the edge. Seth couldn’t actually blame them for those stories but they didn’t know half the pressures that he was stuck with. Every question he got was met with hostility and he couldn’t stop. The press had done this too. They were going to call his character into question as well.

It wasn’t a surprise when he was eventually called through to the Chief of Staff’s office. He didn’t know Beth very well but he knew she was fair. That didn’t mean she’d give him an easy ride about this. He didn’t deserve one either. He expected to be clearing out his office at the end of this meeting. “Seth, it’s time we spoke.” He stepped in and was even more sure that he was going to be fired when he saw Kendra stood to the side.

“What’s going on?” He decided to play dumb, might as well make it as clear as possible even if that meant them criticising him in ways he didn’t really want to try and face. Maybe that would help him too, maybe then he would know exactly what was going on around him rather than it seeming to happen and him having to react to it.

“Your behaviour over the last week has been unacceptable.” There we go, he was right. Seth tried to focus on exactly what was going on but he would admit that he wasn’t enjoying being stood up. The bottle of beer he’d had in his office before coming here may have been a mistake. Clearly, one that Beth noticed too. “Are you drunk?”

“Beth, if you want to fire me then just fire me.” He deflected because he was sure that that was what this meeting was for. He didn’t need for them to go through whatever they had prepared as reasons. He didn’t really care about any of them.

“I don’t want to fire you, Seth. None of us wants for you to be fired.” Beth said calmly holding her hands up and all of a sudden all the wind was taken out of Seth. He’d been so sure that was this meeting that he didn’t know what to do when it wasn’t. “We are, however, all concerned about the change in your behaviour.” She explained quietly as Seth worked on regrouping himself. “I’ve taken the courtesy of having Kendra draw this agreement up.”

“What agreement?” He turned his head to his friend and he saw her take a few steps forward with two stapled pieces of paper. The last time she’d handed him something like this it had been his disclaimer forms. That seemed like such a long time ago now.

“It’s a legal document that asserts that you’re going to seek therapy and comply with any treatments or therapies that they recommend.” Kendra’s explanation of what was on the paper in front of him did not make him feel like he was being protected or helped. It seemed more like they were all trying to protect their own feelings and reputations by making

“You’re going to force me into therapy to let me keep my job? How very enlightened of you.” Seth knew that his indignation in this would be more believable if he hadn’t been the first one to push making the President see a therapist after the First Lady was killed. He didn’t need therapy though, he just needed for life to slow down for a few minutes. “What happens if I tell you to go straight to hell.”

“Then I would have no choice but to put you on extended administrative leave pending an investigation,” Beth answered immediately, but Seth didn’t remove his glare from Kendra. This was partly her fault too. She didn’t need to tell any of them about the investigation, she didn’t need to keep pushing it. But she did.

“Just like you’re investigating Emily, huh?” He said quietly, aiming it at Kendra. “Investigate everyone and you’ll still find nothing on the rest of us. It’s not our fault Emily did something stupid.” That was his argument still, and he was convinced that right now anyone could be found guilty of something.

“Do you want us to assume that you’re guilty, Seth? Because that’s all that’s going to come from this.” Kendra replied just as quietly, and Seth didn’t care that she was right. He knew they all thought he was guilty anyway. “It’s clear to us all that you aren’t dealing with this well and all we want is what’s best for you.”

“Yeah, you’re a great friend, Kendra. So loyal.” He snorted then turned away from her, looking at Beth as he just decided that he didn’t care anymore. If there was no way out of this situation he may as well let it all go. “Put me on leave, I don’t care. What does it matter anyway.”

“You can’t let her steal your career away from you too, Seth. You’re too good at this for that.” Beth had the same tone to her voice as Kendra had tried but it wasn’t going to work. They didn’t care really. They thought he was guilty and they weren’t going to change their minds. “I’ll give you a week to sort yourself out. Speak to your family, your partner. Work things out.”

Seth just stared at Beth for a second then felt a hand on his arm pulling him out of the room slowly. He had to focus on not tripping over his feet as he went and he almost forgot for a second that he was angry with her. “I’ll get Lyor to take you home.” She said as she got him back to his own office, still a mess from his outburst a week earlier. “See you in a week.”

A week to decide what it was that was important, that was what Beth had implied, wasn’t it? Was this job worth what it felt like it had already taken from him? His optimism, his true belief that people were better than they originally appeared. He didn’t know anymore but he would do what she recommended. He’d talk to Lyor, he’d talk to anyone else that he thought might tell him that leaving was the best thing. He didn’t know what to think about everything else but he knew beyond all doubt that there were other things that he could be doing. None of them were working in the White House though. He just needed to move on from Emily’s betrayal, and that was harder than he cared to admit.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, a bit of news about this fic. It's going to split into two separate fics after chapter 24. One that is the Trey/Kendra storyline and one that is the Seth/Lyor storyline. They are largely separate with a few connecting things now so once the large storyline keeping them together is mostly over in chapter 24 it makes more sense to separate them out into two separate fics. The Trey/Kendra story will be called "That Something" (from the song by With Confidence) and the Seth/Lyor story will be called "Safe Haven" (from the song by State Champs).

Trey was almost more nervous about this than he thought he would be about the actual act that went along with it. He needed to know Tom’s opinion on this, all of this. Trey was convinced that he was doing the right thing and that he had made a good choice but the doubt was creeping in. The longer that Tom stared at the ring and was silent the more Trey felt his panic rise. “So, what do you think?” He prompted after a few minutes.

“It’s beautiful.” Tom smiled and handed it back. Trey looked down at it again and momentarily second-guessed his choice. A platinum cross band inset with diamonds surrounding a citrine stone. He’d put a lot of thought into it, including looking at all of Kendra’s other jewellery and realising what she preferred to wear. He loved the ring and he hoped that she’d love it too. “So, you’re going to propose?” Tom asked, and for the first time, Trey could remember there wasn’t a hesitation along with it like he was going to say it was a bad idea.

“I think so.” He responded, then realised that maybe he didn’t sound as sure about what he was doing as he actually was. There was no question about proposing, he was going to do it, it was the fact that he was still thinking about how and when to do it. “Well no, I know I’m going to propose and I think I know when I’m going to do it. I just need to go and ask her mom if I can.” They were all quite traditional in their own ways

“That’s right, her father died just before she came working for me.” Tom nodded and Trey frowned a little. It wasn’t like he and Tom didn’t know how it felt losing a parent but it was never easy. The fact that Tom could actually remember that little part of Kendra’s history reminded him that it wasn’t really all that long ago.

“Yeah, July last year. She’s coping well with it though.” She didn’t actually talk about her dad that much, and Trey didn’t push. He loved the mornings when he and Kendra would get to lie in bed together and she would talk about things like that. Judith, on the other hand, was a lot of fun and Trey was sure that that was going to be an interesting family meeting. “You’d like her mom. She’s a real character. You can see where Kendra got her skill at arguing from.” He chuckled to himself then thought about how this opened up an opportunity to ask Tom about something they rarely got to speak about. “How did you even go through with Alex’s parents?”

“Honestly... I didn’t. She was pregnant with Leo and it was always just assumed that we’d get married.” Trey nodded at that and could tell that no matter how much Trey wanted to explore some of that situation with Tom, it was still too painful for him to get into it and he changed the subject back quickly. “You get along with her mother, right?”

“After a rough start, yeah. I think she appreciates my jokes after all.” Judith Daynes was not what Trey had pictured when he first met her and he didn’t know why he’d assumed that she’d be quite a serious woman. She wasn’t. “Kendra was less impressed with me at first.” Kendra had thought that he was a pain in the ass at first, though he’d won her around.

“And she clearly changed her mind. Have you really thought this through, Trey?” There it was, the doubt that he was sure Tom still harboured. Not that Trey really blamed him. He probably wasn’t going to accept that Trey was serious until it all happened.

“Proposing?” He pretended to need the clarification and then took a deep breath because telling Tom how long he’d wanted to do this was going to make him even more doubtful, probably. It was hard to know but it was better, to be honest. “It’s all I’ve thought about for months. I decided I was going to marry her that first night together, you remember when her place was broken into. I knew then that she was the person I wanted to spend my life with and that never changed.”

“I’m happy for you, Trey. Sincerely.” The smile seemed genuine and Trey tried to take it all at face value and believe that Tom was actually happy. “Have you discussed marriage?”

That was a more complicated question. They had and they hadn’t. It had always been a hypothetical future. “Not directly, I mean she doesn’t know I’m planning to propose but we know we both want to get married and have children and that we’d like to do it with each other.”

“Are you sure you’re doing the right thing if she doesn’t know what you’re planning?” That was an understandable concern and one that Trey was sure Judith and everyone else would echo at him when he had this conversation but he knew Kendra and he knew this was going to work.

“I think so.” Sure, doing it as a surprise was definitely taking a chance but he was going to risk it because this was what he wanted. “We love each other and I’m sure if I asked her would she want it she’d say yes. I’m going to take the gamble and if it didn’t work… it didn’t work.”

“So, when are you thinking about proposing?”

“At her birthday party in two weeks.” It seemed like the perfect time and the perfect gift for her. “Outside the party though, not during it. But so that everyone is gathered if she says yes… and so that we can still celebrate something if she says no.”  “She’ll say yes though, I’m sure of it.”

“I never thought I’d see this day. The day Trey Kirkman settled down.” Tom was smirking at that and given what Trey had been like for the last twenty years he couldn’t exactly blame him. Everyone deserved the chance to settle down though, didn’t they?

“It’s here baby, you better be ready.” Tom just stared at him and Trey smirked even wider. It was always nice to manage to shock his brother into silence. “I’m not taking it back. I’d better get going, see you later big brother.” He checked his watch and realised that he would be late if he didn’t. Tom just waved him off and Trey made sure that he had the ring in his pocket before he left.

Thankfully today they were meeting at a café midway between the White House and where Judith lived. When he eventually got there he was only about ten minutes late and the moment he stepped through the door he was immediately drawn to where Judith was sat in her wheelchair, sipping on some sort of fruity concoction. “Hi, sorry I’m late I got held up at the White House. Just a coffee, please.”

“I swear you and Kennie love using that excuse.” She smiled as he leant to kiss her cheek before sliding into a chair beside her and smiling at the cake she’d clearly had while waiting. Trey was going out with Kendra later so he didn’t want to eat anything at lunch.

“Not many people can use it and it has a use-by date on it.” He laughed and felt his leg shaking under the table. Now that he was here he was more nervous than he cared to admit. It didn’t matter to him that he was sure Judith would say yes, the fact he was really going to do this was enough to make him more nervous than he remembered ever being before.

“Trey… what’s going on?” Judith asked as his coffee was brought over and he went to pick it up with shaking hands. “You seem nervous as a rabbit and you haven’t been still since you got here.” She continued and for a second he cursed that she was as observant as Kendra.

Again he decided that going with honesty was the best policy so he just said the first thing that came into his mind. “I just… I’m trying to work up to asking you something.” Why hadn’t he just asked at that point? Why did he have to make it harder for him by setting himself up? There was no need for him to have done that.

“Just ask, dear. It’s easier to ask and get a negative answer than never ask and always wonder.”

“Would you… I mean… I…” He started and then faltered over the exact words. He was going to need to practice what he was going to say to Kendra if he was having this much trouble asking Judith the precursor question.

“Trey.” She smiled a little and put her hand over one of his still shaking ones. He made himself taking a long gulp of his coffee before he did anything because he needed the moment to just let himself settle again.

“You know I love Kendra, more than anything on the planet.” He started, sure that Judith already knew his feelings about her daughter. “I want to make sure I do right by her and… I want to ask her to marry me but before I do that… I want to ask you if I could?” He stopped for a second but before Judith could say anything he felt compelled to continue speaking. “I know her dad died last year and I don’t know what he’d think of me but I want to ask anyway.”

“Grab your jacket… we’re going on a trip.” Judith said before calling over her shoulder that they should put this on her tab and the servers just waved them off at that. Trey led her over to his car and then helped her get in before folding the chair into the trunk. He hadn’t been expecting any of this and he had no idea where they were going but he did as Judith instructed and soon enough they were pulling up to a cemetery.

Judith guided Trey through the graves, through unfamiliar names but to an area that Judith clearly knew well. They stopped in front of a newer marble headstone and Trey saw the name on it after a moment and realised that they were standing at Keith Daynes’ grave. “This is Kendra’s dad?”

“The one who raised her, yes. Keith Daynes.” Kendra had said that she had a complicated family history but that she didn’t think about it much. He hadn’t ever pressed her for anything further but he felt like Judith was about to give him the answer. “He wasn’t her biological father, she knows that and I’m sure she’s told you that. But he was there from pretty much when I found out I was pregnant through until last July.”

“He was a veteran?” Trey recognised the infantry unit on the headstone and most of the words. Somehow he’d just never pictured that, though, given the dates on the headstone, Keith had been a decade older than Judith.

“Vietnam.” Judith nodded then continued. “I barely knew him when he was in the Army but we didn’t date. We were friends and I was young then. Very young. He was actually more interested in my friend back then and was too old for me.”  “I was only twenty when Kendra was born, she was the product of an affair with my boss and he did not want to be responsible for an illegitimate child. Told me I should get an abortion but… I’m Catholic, you know that. It was never an option for me.” Suddenly, ‘complicated’ seemed like an extreme understatement.

There were still so many questions that Trey had and some of them he probably shouldn’t have asked, and wouldn’t, Judith would tell him if she wanted but he was curious about how the relationship developed. “How did you come to date Keith?”

“We hadn’t seen each other for a couple of years before Kendra was born, he was starting his business and I was working in DC. When we met up again I’d grown up and he was more my type, all of a sudden. We’d been on a couple of dates when I found out that I was pregnant and I expected him to run in the opposite direction. She couldn’t have been his but from that very first day he was a doting father.”

“Ken never knew her biological father?” Trey would never say he had a brilliant childhood. It was what it was but the idea of never knowing a huge part of his history made him wonder how Kendra had lived with it.

“No, and honestly I don’t think she ever cared. I don’t think she cares now, even. We were always honest but she never asked. I wrote a letter to her for after I die with all his details just in case she gets curious about her biological father.” That seemed like a good thing, not that Trey would really blame Judith for thinking that way. “I never wanted for her the life Keith and I led.” 

“Oh?” He paused a little at that, the tone of regret as she looked down at the ground that her husband rested under. Trey moved over a little and moved Judith’s chair closer to the plot so that if she wanted she could reach over and lay her hand on it.

“Sure, she never wanted for anything. Keith’s stores have always been profitable and they leave me with a nice stipend. When I die I expect that Kendra will sell the business off to Keith’s godson who runs it now. But we always wanted for her to have everything we didn’t.”

“What was that?” He couldn’t help the words falling out of his mouth even though at that moment he felt like he probably should have stayed silent.

“A choice.” She smiled softly and moved herself forward, resting her forehead against the marble of the headstone for a few long moments and Trey stood up and looked away, feeling like an intruder into Judith’s grief. “Trey you’re a lovely young man, and it’s clear that you do anything for my little girl. I know Keith would have liked you too.” That was nice to hear and he felt his face split into a smile as he turned back to her. “So yes, you can marry her. I just wanted to bring you here and tell you what you’re facing so you’d know what it’s like to be a part of this family.”

“I wouldn’t want it to be any other way.” He replied honestly and he felt honoured that she’d trusted him with something that was so personal to them both but there was a part of him that was also slightly terrified now. Somehow he hadn’t thought about all the potential issues that would come from this. He still wanted to go through with it all but he needed to talk it all out.

They were quiet as Trey drove Judith back home, sure that by now everyone would have thought that he’d temporarily kidnapped her. Once she was home Trey saw that he still had more than an hour before he was due to meet Kendra so he went to the one place he was sure he could get answers, their church. He was glad that the doors were open, as always, and he just slid into a pew near the back and closed his eyes, running things over in his mind. “Trey, I didn’t expect to see you. I rarely see you outside of mass.” Father Joe asked before sitting down beside him. The portly elderly man had been the parish Father here since the 80s and remembered Kendra as a child. It was nice for Trey to hear those stories sometimes.

“Sorry, Father. I haven’t had much opportunity since I’ve moved back to dedicate to my faith.” He and Kendra brought Judith every Sunday morning for mass, but Trey was honest that outside of that he hadn’t had much time. He’d gotten to know people here mostly thanks to Judith and today he was thankful that he had this place to come too. “Now I’m in need of… I don’t know. Guidance, clarity. Something.” He trailed off as he tried to think. “When I was at my worst with my disease… the Church gave me a focus and helped me find myself again and I need that kind of guidance right now.”

“Is everything okay?” Father Joe pushed a little more, waving to one of the nuns as she passed with some flowers, probably for the altar for later but he didn’t really know. He hoped that he wasn’t going to be disrupting anything by being here. Given that the church was empty he guessed he wasn’t and that he could speak without worrying.

“I’m going to ask Kendra to marry me.” He replied carefully, thinking about how it would sound and everything else that was going on in his mind. Why had it all decided to come up at this moment? “I know we haven’t been together that long but we both want a family and I’ve asked her mother who gave her permission.”

“So, what’s troubling you?” Father Joe sounded so inviting and it was easy to talk to him and Trey felt like he wasn’t going to be judged for everything that was scaring him. It wasn’t rational, or at least, it didn’t feel rational. Not that Trey really knew how to classify something as a rational emotion, mostly he just felt them and had to remember how to control them. Maybe that was his problem right now. It was becoming much harder to control these worries and getting them out to someone neutral was the best he could do.

“Is it fair that I’m getting all of this happiness, this contentment… Is it fair that I’m getting it all because my sister-in-law died.” There, he’d said it. The one thing that had been in the back of his mind since Tom had avoided the subject earlier. “I wouldn’t be back in Tom’s life and I wouldn’t have met Kendra if Alex were still alive.”

“Is this really a question that you need to be asking?” It wasn’t a judgement and it didn’t sound like a doubt either. Trey looked to the Father and tilted his head a little. No, he didn’t need to be asking it and yet he still was. “How does your brother feel about it?”

“He’s thrilled. Never thought he’d see me settle down.” Trey laughed again at that because if he thought back even a year he didn’t imagine that he’d be settling down, that he’d be living with a woman he loved desperately and wanted to spend the rest of his life with, but he was here. “Now I’m here and I’m going to propose but still…”

“You’re wondering if it’s appropriate?” Father Joe finished the sentence for him and Trey frowned again softly. “You can’t change the circumstances of how you met, but that doesn’t define you. Nobody is blaming you for being happy, and you shouldn’t blame yourself. Consider this as a gift from Alex.” That was an interesting idea and Trey felt some of his worries lessen considerably. “She would want you all to be joyous, and maybe this is her way of saying it’s okay.”

“She would have… enjoyed planning all this.” He had to admit that if somehow he had met Kendra and Alex had been alive… she would have been the one making all of the wedding plans. She’d have loved every second of it too. “You’re right. Maybe she did this.”

“Think about this, and I’m looking forward to helping you and Kendra arrange your wedding.” Father Joe smiled and clapped Trey on the shoulder before he slid out of the pew and stood up fully. Slightly arthritic by now but never letting that beat him.

“Thank you, father.” Trey nodded and meant it sincerely. His instinct to come here had been right and he felt so much more confident than he had all day. He had always known that he was doing the right thing but he’d been worrying about appearances and now he remembered he didn’t need to worry about that, not really.

“Feel free to stay and pray, the nuns will close up when you leave.” Father Joe then nodded once more before he wandered off again. He looked comfortable and Trey knew that they would be getting married here and he already couldn’t wait. This was the proof to him that he was doing the right thing and that he could face it all. Now he just needed to keep it together until Kendra’s birthday.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one took so long. My muse did not want to write this chapter.

Lyor hadn’t really known what to do anymore. It was two weeks since Seth had essentially gotten himself suspended and Lyor didn’t know how to help him so he’d gone for the nuclear option. Calling Seth’s brother had actually been Beth’s idea, though she hadn’t actually known much about his family. He’d explained a little on the phone and was thankful that Michael had known that Lyor wouldn’t be calling if it wasn’t an emergency. He’d jumped on the first train he could and Lyor had borrowed Seth’s car to make sure that he could pick him up. It was an awkward first meeting but he was desperate. “Thank you for coming.”

“I couldn’t not when you called. You’re going to have to fill me in on what happened.” Michael was younger than Lyor had expected and it just gave him more questions but he wasn’t going to ask right now. He was going to focus on what he needed to tell Michael to try and get Seth the help that he desperately needed but that Lyor was clearly not able to give himself.

“It’s sort of a long story with lots of… classified information.” It had taken Lyor until now to remember that Michael didn’t have the appropriate security clearances for the majority of things that were going to need to be discussed. If Seth ended up wanting to tell him that was different but Lyor was going to have to be careful with what he said.

“Then tell me what you can and infer the rest.” That seemed oddly simplistic but it would work. He could just let it up to the imagination. He wouldn’t be breaking any of the rules and he was sure that it was going to be helpful if Michael knew more of the situation than he could officially be told. “I’m not a security risk, Mr Boone, I just want to help my brother.”

“Call me Lyor.” Normally not something that he said to anyone, but this was his partner’s brother and it felt wrong to be using such official titles with that in mind. It wasn’t as though they were in a professional environment either. It was harder to think of where to start, so he went right back to the beginning. “Obviously you knew he was dating the former Chief of Staff.”

“Miss Rhodes, yeah. I remember her. I know they broke up too. Seth was really bothered about it but he’s been seeing someone new the last six months or so.” Lyor smirked a little at that, he didn’t know how much Seth had actually told his family about them but, clearly, he’d said something to them about their relationship. At least enough that Mikey knew there was a relationship. “Anyway, what does that have to do with anything?”

“A couple of months ago, Seth was brought in on a national security issue involving her, and he’s not taken it well.” Lyor chanced a glance at Michael and saw the look of confusion on his face but there was no way that he could expand on it. “I can’t be more specific than that, but it’s bad, and Seth started by not believing anyone about it, disappeared for a week and since then he just… hasn’t been himself. It’s come in waves but this is the worst it’s been.”

“Alright. How long has this been going on?” Michael seemed to be approaching it with some clinical detachment, likely something he’d been learning in school. At least that would hopefully work to their advantage. Lyor was glad that he was getting through the traffic fairly quickly as it meant that they didn’t have to worry too much about what Seth might be doing on his own for longer than usual.

“This latest issue? Almost 2 weeks now.” That was the part that was scaring them all and it was why Lyor had called for Michael so he was going to keep focusing on that. The rest was going to be up to Seth to tell his brother. Some of it probably wasn’t Lyor’s place. “He got suspended from work for his behaviour and he’s becoming impossible to live with. He drinks and he’s just… very angry.”

“Live with?” So Seth hadn’t told them that part. Lyor just stayed quiet and looked out of the corner of his eye toward Michael as he took in the extended silence. “Alright, then I won’t ask.” Lyor would let Seth fill that one in too. There were some things that needed to come from family “Do you mind leaving me alone with him. It’s probably easier if this part of brotherly love isn’t witnessed.”

“You’re not gonna beat him, are you?” It seemed like a good question given the situation that they were walking into and the fact that Lyor had wanted to do that on more than one occasion over the last two weeks. Those were the nights when he’d gone back to stay at his own apartment and been unable to sleep as he didn’t know how Seth was doing.

“What the hell do you do to your siblings?” Michael asked giving Lyor the most confused look that he had inspired in a while. Normally it was Kendra giving him a look like that. It certainly seemed different to be having it from Seth’s brother.

“I don’t have any,” Lyor said simply and if pushed he would have admitted that nearly all of his knowledge about having siblings came from tv shows and movies that he’d seen over the years. He didn’t think that he was missing out but sometimes he would admit that he would have liked other people in the house.

“Well… That explains it at least.” Michael smiled as they pulled up outside Seth’s building and he went to get out of the car before looking back to Lyor. “Give us a couple of hours.” That was a reasonable request and Lyor wasn’t going to push. It was a Saturday lunch time and Lyor had no idea what to do. He could go into work but he wanted to actually take a day off. Kendra would be enjoying her weekend with her partner, and while Lyor had come to a silent agreement with Trey he didn’t have any desire to spend his Saturday afternoon with the President’s brother.

Lyor stayed sat in the car for a few moments trying to decide where he could go then just set out again letting his mind guide him without conscious thought. When he pulled up in the parking lot of the nursing home that his mother lived in he realised he didn’t know how long it had been since he’d last visited. He still remembered the path to her room and smiled seeing her in the same dressing gown she always wore. “Hey, mom.”

“Hi. Do I know you?” She was still smiling with the same slightly blank expression that she often wore when she wasn’t sure what was going on. Lyor was happy to see that there was at least a nurse in the room with her, especially as it seemed that they were trying to get her to eat.

“Not having a good day today then?” He asked and she just smiled and went back to looking at the magazine in her lap that Lyor wasn’t even sure that she could still read it but she seemed to be enjoying herself so he wasn’t going to ask her. “Is she like this every day?”

“She wasn’t so bad this morning, but she starts sundowning earlier and earlier.” The nurse smiled a little standing up. Lyor was sure that he knew her name – Claire, he thought. She seemed to at least have his mother’s trust. “You may need to start preparing yourself. This is often the beginning of the end in our dementia patients.”

“Thank you. Can you make sure it’s written in her notes that someone should call me if she has a decline.” Lyor had actually been expecting this for quite some time but the only people he’d spoken to about it were Kendra and Seth.

“Sure. Secondary contact?” That was a good question. Normally he wouldn’t have hesitated about putting Seth down but given all of his problems recently Lyor didn’t think that he should add to his burdens. Kendra wouldn’t mind though, he was sure about that. He’d tell her Monday but he’d put her down as his secondary contact.

That meant he’d have to make sure Kendra’s details were in his mother’s files, but he could do that when he was leaving. He just needed to make sure that he had made the decision. “My attorney. I’ll give her details when I’m leaving.”

“Sure.” Claire nodded and picked up her clipboard, clearly happy to leave her charge alone with her son. At the door she paused and turned back to the room then nodded toward a tray on the side. “Mr Boone, see if you can get her to eat something. That’s been a problem.”

“I’ll try.” He wondered if she’d been this stubborn for a while. As he looked her over he realised exactly how much weight she’d lost since the last time he’d visited. He grabbed the sandwich on the tray and opened the packed, putting them on the plate before putting it and the juice. “Don’t you be causing trouble, mom.”

“My boy Lyor should be coming today. He’s such a good boy.” It was always nice to hear her saying things like that even though it reminded him that she had no idea who he was anymore. She still thought he was about seven years old. “I hope he grows up to be as handsome as his father.”

“I’m sure he does.” He didn’t look much like his father after all, but he didn’t mind that so much. He actually liked that he wasn’t like his father at all. He was much happier being like his mom. “What have you got here? A chicken salad. Sounds like a good lunch to me.” He placed it on the table in front of her chair then pulled another one up beside her and decided to try talking about what it was on his mind. “Things aren’t so good at work.”

“Tell me all about it, dear. I like having someone keep me company.” Lyor smiled as she invited that and he was glad that she at least grabbed the orange juice that he’d put in a glass. She had always been particularly fond of orange juice. When he was a child he remembered that.

She had invited him to keep talking and he did need to get it all out of his mind in a structured way. That was going to help. “So, a friend of mine got in trouble. She did something really terrible.” He paused as he thought about Emily and wondered if that was the most accurate way of describing her. “Actually, I don’t know that I would actually call her a friend. Once she was but now… I’m not so sure.”

“How bad was it?” That was a question that Lyor really didn’t know how to answer. What Emily had done had been awful but it wasn’t proven yet. He didn’t think that there was going to be a reasonable answer for what she’d been doing there but he was sure that she was going to try to say that it wasn’t at all what it looked like and that the documents that Valeria had had were just a coincidence. It wasn’t going to be her. Lyor didn’t believe it anymore and he wasn’t sure why he had to begin with.

“It was bad. Really bad. She might go to prison for it.” He wasn’t going to say anything else even while talking to his mother who would forget by the morning. “She really hurt someone I care about a lot and I don’t know how to help him get over what she made him think.”

“You can’t. He needs to do it himself.” That was surprisingly insightful but at the same time managed to make Lyor feel like he was going to fail Seth no matter what he did. “Men are dense like that. Just be there for your friend.” That seemed so much easier said than done but he realised that his mother had a point about it, especially with Michael’s visit. If he was just there when Seth needed him it would be better for them both.

“You have no idea what I’m talking about do you?” He asked again after a second, he needed to see if she retained any short term memory. When he thought about his mom he thought about the woman she used to be, the strong, intelligent woman that he’d been raised by. This was worse to watch than anything else and, in some ways, he wished that there was some quick end coming. She used to debate politics and philosophy with him, now he was watching her fade away and Lyor would put a gun in his mouth before he got to this point.

“Would you like this sandwich?” She asked after just looking at him for a second. She picked up the plate he’d put in front of her a few minutes earlier. She hadn’t even touched it, but she had at least drank the orange juice. “It’s chicken.”

“No, mom. You need to eat that.” He sighed and went back to trying to convince her to eat what was in front of her. All the while telling her all the things that were happening at the White House. It was an easy way to talk out his feelings and his mother was less judgemental about it than Kendra would be. By the time he was leaving she’d forgotten everything he said, in an hour she’d forget he’d been there, but he felt a little better.

Heading home he didn’t know what he was going to be walking into and there was a part of him that really wanted to put off that trip but he knew that the longer he avoided it the harder it was going to be when he actually headed home so he sucked it up and drove back toward Seth’s apartment. Finding his key he almost felt like he should knock first given what he knew must have been going on but he didn’t and stepped through the door. The biggest surprise when he adjusted to the light was that he could actually see the table again, no more three-day-old pizza boxes and beer bottles. “This is cleaner.”

“Yeah, we’ve been busy,” Michael said coming out of the kitchen, Seth trailing him looking simultaneously determined and defeated. Lyor wasn’t sure what it was that had caused that but he was sure he was probably going to find out. Michael looked between the two of them then pulled his phone out and smiled. “I’m gonna go call mom, I’ll be back up in a minute.” Neither of them stopped him, and Lyor just looked around the apartment again before his eyes went back to Seth.

“I’m sorry about all this, Ly.” The way Seth spoke made all the annoyances and the worries of the last two weeks fade to the back of his mind as Lyor impulsively walked over to Seth and pulled him close, kissing him gently before just wrapping him up. It was nice to have his boyfriend back. No subtle anger or resentment in his tone, just sadness and a little regret.

“I don’t think I’m the one who deserves the apology,” Lyor said after a moment. While Seth had not been the easiest person to live with or be around recently, Lyor had been largely spared from most of his anger and hadn’t been the target of his attacks so he really wasn’t sure why Seth was apologising

“Not the biggest, probably not. But you deserve one. You’ve had to live with this.” Seth tried to smile though it didn’t really meet his eyes. Lyor kissed him once more then stepped back, giving him more space as they broached the topic that Lyor had been avoiding for two weeks.

“I didn’t expect finding out about Emily would have such a massive effect on you.” It wasn’t really a question, Lyor didn’t know how to make it a question, but he hoped that it opened up the conversation and maybe, just maybe, Seth could shed some light on what would have been going through his mind.

“I didn’t either.” He admitted after a second, moving around the now-empty floor to sit in his usual spot on the left hand side of the couch. Lyor paused for a moment watching him before following and sitting on the other side. “Then Kendra told me the dates and I just…”

“Realised that she hid more than we ever thought?” He finished off Seth’s thought for him when it was clear he didn’t know how to say it. A soft nod confirmed what Lyor had been thinking and it made some of what Seth had been doing the last few months make sense.

“How did I not realise Ly? I pride myself on being observant, on knowing what’s going to be a problem before it is a problem. That’s part of how I protect the president and yet…” Seth pushed himself up and started pacing around the room. It was nice to hear him admitting this and Lyor was intrigued as to what Michael had done to bring about this transformation. “I couldn’t even see it in the woman who at that time was sharing my bed. It’s my fault.”

“None of it was your fault and that shouldn’t affect the way you do your work, Seth. You should see how bad it is right now.” Lyor knew that the press office was rudderless and it was not going well. The undersecretaries weren’t ready for what they were being expected to do.

“Mikey reminded me that it really didn’t matter what she did, _she_ was the one who did it.” There was still bitterness in that thought but it was better than everything being full of bitterness. Lyor didn’t blame him for being bitter toward Emily. He was bitter, he was fairly sure everyone who knew about the investigation was bitter. “She wasn’t the one ruining my career. That was all me and I was letting myself believe that it was her.”

“You’re going to have to work hard on getting Beth to trust you again.” Lyor didn’t know the chief of staff very well but he was sure that she had problems with people who threw their chances away and that’s what Seth had done. That was one of the things that anyone who worked with her had told him.

“I know, but I’m more worried about Kendra. I haven’t been very fair to her recently.” That was actually an understatement, Seth had been awful to Kendra at times and it hadn’t been her fault that this was happening. She had very much been the messenger that Seth decided to shoot and that would take time to repair too.

“Talk to Beth, maybe you’ll be back at work in time for her party on Tuesday. You can apologise as a birthday present.” Birthday’s were suddenly a big celebratory thing in the White House, especially with the senior staff. Trey had organised most of Kendra’s, though, and Lyor wondered what was going on there but it would be a good opportunity for Seth to start making amends.

“That’s a surprisingly good idea from you.” There he was, being mockingly mean to Lyor to make a joke and Lyor felt better about how this was going to go. Eighteen months ago he would have hated this but now it was all a sign that he mattered and that they had come this far.

“I have them from time to time.” He teased and motioned for Seth to come and sit back down with him. Maybe this was only the start of getting back to normal and there were going to be hard days to come but, hopefully, Seth had realised that this wasn’t about him and it didn’t matter what people thought. It mattered what he did and he wasn’t in line with Emily. It would be nice to have Seth back.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am preparing for all the happy shouting in the comments. This is so cute you're gonna die.
> 
> For anyone interested. [This is the ring that Trey got for Kendra](https://78.media.tumblr.com/97c98b8662cdebad1ea7b46124cd76f0/tumblr_pe0i6xCkek1wvoy3vo1_500.jpg)

The alarm was not a welcome sound this morning even though Kendra had known that it would be coming. She didn’t want to be getting up and she didn’t think that it was worth it, but as always she felt Trey rolling over to start his morning off giving her a cuddle and she immediately felt a little better. “Good morning. Happy birthday.” Oh. Of course. It was her birthday today. Thirty eight and still not loving that idea. There was so much she’d planned to do by this age and she hadn’t done very much of it at all.

“I miss when I was a kid and my mom used to let me off school for my birthday.” She grumbled a little but it was hard to really be feeling grumpy when Trey was cuddling up to her in their usual early-morning wake-up routine. They even set the alarm half an hour before they needed to be awake so they had more time to do this. “Reckon people would have issues if I called in sick.”

“I think they’d guess why you were calling in and Beth likely wouldn’t believe you.” Trey grinned, kissing her neck a little before he went to push himself up. That was far too much like actually getting up for her, so she reached up and pulled him back down into the cuddle again. “Not ready to move yet, I get you.”

“You’re probably right.” She ignored his comment about not moving, knowing that even though she didn’t really want to she actually needed to go to work. The downside of her job was that she didn’t get that many days off. The upside was that her boyfriend had the security clearances to drop in on her whenever he wanted, and thankfully he did on many occasions.

“Also, congratulations. We survived six months together.” His chuckle as he said that reminded her that no matter how often it felt like they’d been like this for years they actually hadn’t been. When it felt so normal after such a short time she knew it was the right thing for them to be doing.

“Four months living together, almost.” That was a surprising stat too and she couldn’t imagine not having this now. He’d even managed to sell his own apartment. At first she’d been quite against him doing that but he’d been determined and now she was glad he had. “I love you.” It was always easy to distract him with those words and a few well-placed kisses, and it would hopefully at least put off going to work.

“I love you. But you gotta get ready for work and I promised Penny that I’d hang out this afternoon.” Trey tried to deflect but Kendra wasn’t the type to give up so easily, only stopping when he moved away a little more. “Hmm, Kennie that’s a good start to the day but it’s probably not the best of ideas given that we’re late, you work from my brother, I need to look after my niece and we need to leave early for dinner with your mother.” It wasn’t like Trey to turn down sex but he managed to stop the head of steam she’d been building by using a sentence that included his brother, niece and her mother all at once.

“I just really don’t want to go to work.” She grumbled. There was something in her gut that was telling her today was going to be a hard day and that she wasn’t going to have very much fun. Not how she liked to spend her birthday. “You know when you have a feeling it’s going to be a really bad day? I have that feeling.”

“It’ll be a better day than you’re feeling I’m sure.” Trey smiled a little, nudging her slightly as he moved back close for another cuddle. Neither one of them were very good at refusing a cuddle when they were laid in bed like this. “It’ll be a great day, just you watch.” Trey seemed confident of that and Kendra really wasn’t sure that she could believe him.

“How can you be so sure?” She didn’t really expect an answer but this was Trey, and she really should have known that he’d have an answer. Even if it didn’t make any sense to her or anyone else he would always be able to answer.

Trey’s smirk told her that he did, indeed, have a reason but he didn’t say anything until he’d kissed her a few more times. “Because I have an ice cream cake with your name on it in the residence for later on.”

“I’ve met your niece I expect she’s eaten it by now.” Kendra couldn’t actually see Penny letting there be an ice cream cake in the freezer in the residence for an entire night. She was grateful for Trey’s thought though, it was a sweet gesture and was one of the things that she loved about him.

“Nah she can’t reach the top shelf.” Trey laughed and Kendra pulled him closer as they laid there. She almost,  _almost_ got her way and convinced him not to get out of the bed, but he seemed to be very focused on making her get out of bed and go to work. “Come on babe, we have to go.”

“You’re mean, you know. Not letting me stay in bed on my birthday.” Kendra pouted a little but sat up and went to get out of the bed. She normally didn’t think too much about how much effort it took to get up but today, when she really didn’t want to, it became all the more obvious to her.

“I’m not mean I’m reminding you that you’re the most powerful lawyer in the country and should go to work,” Trey smirked and kissed her cheek before he just got out of bed himself and went to get out whatever he was wearing for the day. Kendra instead stayed sat in the bed and thought about what he’d said. He was probably right and she really should work, but that didn’t mean that she actually wanted to.

She was right that she was going to have a terrible day. First of all, she needed to sit down with the entire communications staff and remind them that lying to Congress was a crime, then she needed to review the most recent evidence that Macy and Hannah had sent up to her. She finally felt like she was getting on top of it all when Lyor appeared at her door with the expression that told her she wasn’t going to like what she was about to do. “Kendra, come on.”

“Where we going?” She asked against her own advice. She knew that this wasn’t going to be what she wanted to do but if it was feeding into her thoughts that this was a terrible day she at least needed to have an idea of where she was going and what level of bad it was.

“PEOC. Situation in Bolivia.” That answered part of her question but it raised so many others. She had codeword clearance and had been in PEOC for plenty of other situations but this wasn’t one that she was normally brought in on this early in the situation. Normally she was made aware and given time to look up precedents. She was guessing there was something urgent here but she didn’t know what. Clearly the look on her face was enough to convince Lyor to keep talking. “Americans are involved it’s gotta be by the book.”

“Shit.” She locked her files in the draw and got up following Lyor out. As they walked down to PEOC she reflected on the fact that she had been right when she woke up and Trey had, clearly, been wrong. Today was not good at all, and it was turning out to be just as bad as she’d expected. “I knew today was going to be awful.”

“How did you know?” Lyor gave her a very confused look and Kendra had the feeling he was taking it entirely literally. It wasn’t something he did all that often but when he did it still made her chuckle internally.

“I woke up with that feeling and then Trey _made_ me come to work.” She explained then groaned and shook her head. She had been so certain this morning that she should call off and stay in bed. Next time she was so sure of something like this she was going to ignore Trey and stay in bed. “I should have stayed home.”

“I think you’d have been called in for this if you were on your deathbed, honestly.” Lyor commented and Kendra had to agree that he was probably right. “Maybe not your deathbed but your hospital bed for sure.” Lyor reached the door before she did and went through the security procedures, holding the door for her as they stepped in.

“Ah, Kendra. Excellent.” The President said from where he was stood studying the board. He did give her a few minutes to orient herself and read the papers at her position in the table. She liked that someone had gone to the trouble of making sure everything was there ready for her, probably Beth. “What are our legal options?”

She was quiet for a moment and pulled up the memories of the last time she’d looked into something like this. She knew there wasn’t all that much that they could actually do, legally, without the backing of Congress. “Limited. A rescue mission could spark tensions and we’ve been pushing for Bolivian elections for most of the last year, it could be seen as interfering.”

“There are hostages, Ken,” Lyor interjected as if she couldn’t read that and see that. That didn’t actually change the legalities no matter how much politicians wished that it did. The hostages were a political problem and one that it was not Kendra’s job to solve.

“I’m aware of that, Lyor, and I don’t deal with politics so I can’t advise on that.” She made it clear that that was his job but that she had her own thoughts on what they could do. “What I can say is that if we could gather an international group to send election monitors and maybe negotiate for red cross access to the hostages we could prevent this being a PR nightmare.”

“Ken’s right, sir. That is by far the best option.” Aaron interjected with a smile before nudging her gently with his elbow. “You’re going for my job now?” He teased and she just nodded, hoping that he knew this wasn’t going to be a regular occurrence. She didn’t like being here, this was not where she was comfortable.

“How are we going to sell that to the public.” Lyor’s annoyance at how her idea was different than he clearly wanted to do was obvious but she wasn’t going to take it personally. He just thought he knew best and forgot that politics didn’t trump the law, no matter how inconvenient it was.

“That’s your job to figure out. I just tell you the best option from a legal standpoint and try and ensure none of us will ever see the inside of the Hague.” She tried to lighten the mood a little, she hated disagreeing with Lyor, especially when she was fairly sure that his idea was not going to be legally sound.

“How are we doing?” Beth jumped in on her joke, probably realising that her staff needed that to be lightened up and Kendra had given an opening. It was actually a not-inconsiderable part of her job though, just not in those exact words.

“I’ve got some game.” She grinned back, deciding that that was the easiest way to keep that tone light. Lyor was still clearly chewing it over while Aaron was just looking between them all, clearly wondering about the sanity of the people he worked with here. They all fell silent while others gave what information they had and The President came up

“We’re going to go with Kendra’s recommendation right now. We’ll revisit if we can’t arrange red cross access. Lyor, I want you and Kendra to take point on getting the agreement of the NATO countries.” He said eventually, quietly coming to the decision as he always did. “Nothing is off the table until I say it is.”

“Yes sir.” Kendra nodded and followed Lyor back out and up to their offices. Kendra thought that was easier than trying to convince him to go anywhere else. When they were away she thought that she’d broach a topic that she had been avoiding at first. “I saw Seth is back at work. How’s he doing?” She wanted to know, and she wanted to talk to her friend but given that things hadn’t been great for them recently she didn’t want to approach him before he was ready.

“He hasn’t spoken to you?” Lyor asked seemingly surprised that Kendra hadn’t actually heard from Seth yet. She just shook her head in response and wondered if that was an indication that maybe she should go and see him. “He’s doing better, it’s amazing what a visit from his brother did. I’m sure you’ll see him later on.”

“Is he ready to be back, Lyor? I don’t want something else to throw him off.” By ‘something’ she meant the fact that there was still more to come out of this investigation into Emily and that no matter what was going to happen they were all going to be hit by more than they were probably ready to deal with.

“I’m trusting his judgement, but if we all keep an eye on him we should be able to keep him away from that cliff again.” Lyor seemed to be confident about that and Kendra decided that she couldn’t argue and that any further questions could be crossing a line. She needed to talk to Seth herself, though when they’d be ready for that she didn’t know. “Who should we go with first?” Lyor asked, pointedly bringing her back to the matter at hand.

“The British. They would be the easiest.” She answered immediately, knowing that they didn’t have too much influence in that part of the world making it much easier for them to help in an intervention. At least she hoped that her gut instinct was right. There was always a choice she could be monumentally wrong.

It definitely did not get any easier while she and Lyor were trying to wrangle governments. Though when it came to dealing with the ones she knew Lyor had already had issues with she went back to her own office. She was just waiting on a call back from the French ambassador when Trey appeared at her door. “Hey, come with me.”

“Where we going?” She asked, up before she had even considered it. She grabbed her phone and just hoped that the French Ambassador was busier than she thought. It wasn’t as though she’d even demanded an urgent callback, maybe that was something she should have added.

“The Roosevelt Room.” She looked at him for a second as he said that but just let him keep pulling her through. Kendra remembered that he’d promised her an ice cream cake and given the way today was going half an hour with her boyfriend and her favourite type of cake was definitely going to raise her spirits. Only the second she got to the door the shout of ‘surprise’ almost knocked her backwards and she smiled as she looked around. Most of the staff were there, along with her mother, and the President. Not exactly what she’d been expecting for her low-key birthday celebrations.

“Thank you, everyone.” She smiled widely, nodding to all her friends here in the White House before turning her attention back to her boyfriend. She almost couldn’t believe that he’d somehow done all of this without anyone breathing a word to her. “Trey… you arranged this for me?”

“I did. You like it?” There was a slight nervousness to his voice that Kendra really didn’t understand, she actually was one of the few people in life who really enjoyed surprises like this. She always had been which had made planning for her considerably easier, so she’d been told before.

“I love it. Is this why you wanted me to come into work?” She remembered again how insistent he’d been that morning and couldn’t think of any other reason. He’d probably been planning this for weeks and missing it would have been a shame.

Kendra didn’t fail to notice that Trey was fiddling with something in his pocket, but she just waited to see where all this was going. What present had he gotten her, since all she’d actually expected was the ice-cream cake? “One of the reasons.”

“One of?” She narrowed her eyes slightly, more suspicious now than she had been a few seconds ago. It’s not like he could have known about the coup in Bolivia, that was beyond even his level of preternatural ability to guess at what was happening. “What’s the other?”

“This.” Kendra watched as he dropped down to one knee in front of her and took hold of her hand, once again attracting the attention of the entire room as it fell silent. “There are a million things that I could say and I definitely didn’t actually plan on doing this here in front of everyone but… When we first met, almost a year ago, I knew from the first moment that you were going to be hugely important in my life and I wanted to spend more time with you. I didn’t go exactly the best way about it, but it worked.”

“It did.” She couldn’t help but laugh a little as Trey paused for a longer breath. This was definitely not what she’d expected, they’d only been together six months but she had spoken about how much she wanted this and this obviously meant Trey did too.

“The last six months you have shown me that I really am worthy of being loved by someone who just wants the best for me. You’ve made me a better person and been my biggest cheerleader, my biggest support and the person I know I want to spend my life with. I want to spend every day saying that I’m your husband and that you chose me to be by your side. I love you, and I want to know, please, if you’ll marry me?” There it was, a proposal she definitely hadn’t expected and she used her free hand to wipe away the tears that were building. The ring he held out was gorgeous and Kendra wondered how he’d known to get something so perfect for her.

“I never thought I’d cry at this moment.” She laughed nervously, eliciting a sympathetic chuckle from everyone in the room who was happily married. She wiped her eyes again and just looked down at Trey’s nervous face for another second before she nodded. “Yes, yes I will.” She grinned more as Trey slid the ring onto her finger then jumped up and wrapped his arms around her.

“Way to keep me waiting.” He teased as soon as people had gone back to talking among themselves and enjoying the feast it seemed Trey had organised to be on the table. Kendra just held him closer for another few minutes, her eyes closed as she tried to memorise this moment. The stubble on his cheek, the feel of his hands resting on her hips, hers on his shoulder-blades.

“You did spring it on me as a bit of a surprise.” She retorted with another laugh then pulled back slightly, moving her left hand in front of her so she could look again at the ring Trey had bought for her. It was amazing and she had no idea how he’d found the kind of ring she’d always dreamed of getting. “This is beautiful Trey. How did you know?”

“You aren’t subtle Ken. You comment on any ring you ever see. I knew what you’d like.” Alright, he had her there and she knew that he would have been paying attention as long as he’d been thinking about doing this. “Beth is also surprisingly knowledgeable about rings and Seth has that way with words.”

“He helped you with that?” Kendra didn’t believe that. She loved Trey and the mess of words had been beautiful but they definitely didn’t have the polish that Seth would have added to it. “Are you sure?”

“No, that was me getting nervous and panicking.” He laughed, his arm going around her waist now as if he was slightly scared that by letting her go this moment would have all been a dream. “I had a beautiful speech planned out that he caught me practicing earlier.”

“You were practicing?” Kendra could just picture that, Trey, standing in a room alone, panicking himself about what he wanted to say. He had said that he didn’t plan to do it in front of everyone, too. So the nervous panic made sense. She wouldn’t have had this any other way. “That’s adorable. I love you.” She kissed him once more then pulled him over to start talking to the others. No matter how much she wanted it to be just the two of them right now they were around their friends. There would be plenty of time for them to celebrate together later.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry I'm slow as butts updating this. I've had a million medical appointments (okay like four) in the last two weeks and I'm exhausted and randomly anxious so my writing has taken a hit but I'm hoping that after I *finally* get one of my treatments on Monday I'll be feeling better.

Since Trey had proposed to Kendra two days ago the entire White House had been a happy, bouncy place. It seemed like the news had been just what they’d all needed in amongst the negativities of running the country. Seth still hadn’t really found time to talk to Kendra alone, despite the fact that he’d promised Lyor that he’d make it a priority. There had just never seemed to be a good time for it. Almost as though the universe knew that he was thinking about Kendra, Seth heard Trey’s voice in the corridor outside of his office and he paused to listen. “I just don’t see why we can’t leave the press to talk about it on their own?”

“Because I’m the White House Counsel, you’re the President’s brother and like it or not we’re fairly high profile individuals, Trey.” Kendra’s response was fairly clear and exactly what he would have told Trey too. It didn’t matter what he wanted when it came to having profiles like them. What he didn’t expect was to look up and see Kendra’s face around the edge of his door. “Hey, Seth can you help us.”

“What’s wrong?” He asked as she and Trey both stepped in and shut the door after them. It was obvious from everything about Trey’s body language that he hated this idea and that made Seth wonder if they had been debating it since Tuesday night. Given how stubborn Seth knew Kendra could be… well that would be his guess.

“Nothing, see Ken nothing is wrong we can forget about all of this.” Trey shot back and went to go back to the door but he was a little slower than Seth would have actually expected him to be, which meant that even though he was trying to be just as stubborn as Kendra he knew that she was going to win.

“Trey!” She yelped and Seth winced just as much as Trey did with the tone in her voice at that. She had managed to get him there though and Seth was willing to help them. In fact he’d already been playing with some thoughts on it, especially since the President had already called and asked Seth to help write his statement of congratulations too.

“Fine, fine.” Trey held his hands up then wrapped his arms around her waist. Seth was actually a little jealous of how obviously in love the two of them were, nobody needed to know them to see how much they cared and that was something that Seth thought they should add to their statement. “We’ll do it your way.”

“We need some help with the statement about the engagement.” Seth was glad that he had been right when he’d guessed that was possibly why they were coming to him. He was actually happy that Kendra still trusted him enough to help her with this life-changing situation. “Trey doesn’t particularly want to give one at all.” He was surprised that she felt she had to clarify that when it was plainly obvious.

“I can see that.” He smiled and motioned for them both to sit on the seats opposite his desk. “You know that there are going to be questions of the legality and propriety of you still working in the White House after the wedding?” Seth wanted to know that Kendra had thought that through, though he really couldn’t imagine a world where she wouldn’t have.

“I know. I’ve already been doing some research on the legality and there is absolutely nothing prohibiting members of the President’s family serving in his administration. Propriety will be easy to counteract since I worked here prior to the wedding so…” Kendra nodded a little then waved her hand in front of them as if it didn’t really matter anyway  “Political issues are Lyor’s avenue and I’m sure we’ll both hear about them.”

“Well, if it helps I spoke to the President yesterday about his statement, that’s ready to go out in tandem with yours.” Seth had that written down in his drawer ready to release the moment that Trey and Kendra had their official statement ready to go too.

“Wait, Tom gave a statement?” Trey asked, seemingly completely taken by surprise. Sometimes Seth forgot that Trey actually wasn’t a politician and he didn’t always understand how things worked here. He was trying to learn but Kendra wasn’t exactly the best teacher as she was really only just learning herself.

“He’s President and his brother just got engaged to a friend and senior advisor, of course he made a statement.” Seth smiled kindly, hoping that knowing that it was done for good reasons would help. “You can read it through before we work on yours if you’d like. It’s quite short.” Seth pulled the drawer out and then handed the paper to Trey who held it between them.

_’I’m delighted that my brother has found all the happiness and excitement he deserves in such a close friend and I look forward to helping them prepare for the lifelong commitment they are planning to make.’_

“It’s definitely short... and supportive.” Kendra smiled and squeezed the hand that Seth hadn’t even realised she was holding. He realised that it had been months since they’d all been alone together and that he missed that, he really needed to actually find the time to make up with her so that he may have the chance of having his friends back.

“Doesn’t mention that he’s secretly still sure that I’m going to screw all this up,” Trey mumbled back and Seth realised that this probably wasn’t a conversation that he should have been hearing, or that he should ever mention to anyone that it took place. It was something between Kendra and Trey and he knew nothing.

“Baby you’ve tried many times but I’ve already seen through it.” Kendra’s response reminded Seth that they always had to go through things, and he would never have guessed that these two might have had troubles. “If we get the statement nailed down can we do it tonight. I’ll give my mom a heads up.”

“If you get her to call me I can help her craft a statement too.” Seth thought that it was only polite to offer that. He didn’t need to but he hoped that he was still Kendra’s friend and Judith Daynes was a good person. It would only be polite if he made sure that she had what she needed to given she would be asked for her thoughts as much as the President would be.

Seth actually enjoyed getting to listen to the way Kendra and Trey clearly spoke to each other when they were at home. Hearing them bicker like this, something that reminded him so much of the way he and Lyor spoke to each other when they were at home, was refreshing. Their little issues were all easily worked out together and with his guidance through the meeting, and they all paused when they heard a loud knock on the door. “Seth I was told Kendra had some to see you and… Kendra. Oh, Hi Trey.”

“Hey, Beth. We were just finished.” Trey managed to say before either Seth or Kendra could respond. He stood up and kissed Kendra softly and Seth almost wanted to look away as they paused together for a moment. “So I’ll see you for this thing at 4? You’re doing all the talking.” Trey finished and Seth smirked a little at that.

“Fine.” Kendra pouted, but she turned to watch him pass Beth out the door. She still looked a little annoyed at him, but it was clear that she was really just happy about the fact all of this was happening. “What’s up?”

“Bolivia.” Beth saying that drew a groan from both of the others in the room. Seth had come to hate whenever that name came up in a briefing, and he hated it even more when it was the one-word response to a problem.

“I’m really starting to hate that country. Do you need us both?” It seemed like a reasonable question as it had sounded like Beth had originally come looking for Kendra. He hoped that he wasn’t going to be needed, because if he wasn’t then there wasn’t too much going on. If he was needed it was going to be getting bad.

Beth, of course, knew that too and probably hated what she had to do. She’d been wonderful coming in to help with their situation since Emily had left and Seth was absolutely certain that nothing would have been as smooth if Beth hadn’t been quite so masterful at managing chaos. “Yes, this is going to need a spin with the Press.” At that, both he and Kendra jumped up and almost chased Beth out of his office and along the corridor.

“What happened? Kendra asked as they caught up with Beth a moment later. There had been a deal in place to rescue the Americans, Seth knew that much, but he’d been kept out of the details for good reason. There was always the chance that he would speak out of turn if he knew too much. He never had before but he didn’t blame them for not exactly trusting him after the last few months.

“They didn’t release three of the hostages,” Beth said just as they started down the stairs toward PEOC, probably Seth’s least favourite building in the entire White House. He didn’t exactly spend all that much time down here but whenever he did it was never for anything good.

“Kendra. Seth.” The President greeted as they filed in after Beth and looked around the table. Everyone there looked as worried and resigned as Seth felt. They didn’t even know the details yet but when he glanced at Kendra he could already see the cogs in her mind turning as she worked out what they could do. “Fill them in, Aaron.”

They both went silent as they listened to the situation. Eleven of the hostages were released with no problem, then something happened with the final three. Now the Bolivian military and government weren’t in contact and it was chaos. Eleven families would have their loved ones returned but it made it even harder for the remaining three. After they had all kicked around some ideas the President sent Aaron up with Seth to arrange a briefing and Seth had to admit that the pace change from earlier in the day was high. “I’m really not ready to be dealing with a diplomatic incident, I have a serious case of whiplash.”

“Why?” Aaron asked and Seth suddenly remembered he hadn’t known what was going on outside of this situation. He’d once joked that he knew about everything going on in the White House and he knew all the big stuff, but minutiae like Trey and Kendra’s wedding announcement seemed like it would be beneath what he needed to know.

“I was in with Kendra and Trey before we got called down here, sorting out their engagement announcement.” Seth explained. It was much happier news and something that he thought that they did all actually need. It wasn’t easy working in this White House, especially not recently, but the little good things that happened made it all worthwhile. “Bit different to international intrigue.”

“Just a little bit.” Aaron laughed and nodded then just looked down a little more as they walked. “Hard to believe that she’s the first one getting married out of us all, isn’t it?” He asked after a few seconds. There was a bond between the senior staff, even the ones who came in later, and Seth didn’t really know what it was that made them so close.

“Is it? I always assumed that Kendra would be the first one.” He had to admit, not only because she was the first to settle into her relationship. She was just the type who would want to be married as soon as it was practicable. Seth then looked at Aaron before nodding toward his office. “You’ll keep me updated if anything else happens? First briefing in twenty minutes.”

“I’ll be there to take questions.” Seth actually felt relieved entirely by that answer as it meant that he wasn’t going to be trying to speak about something that he didn’t understand entirely. Aaron could answer the questions while all their friends were trying to work out the details of what they needed to do next.

Afternoon’s like this were the type that made Seth thankful that he didn’t _have_ to know what the others were doing. He just put out the statements he was told to put out and took the information he was given. He was actually glad that the evening briefing was largely going to be dominated by the wedding announcement and questions that went along with that, nearly all of which could be answered with a swift ‘that’s not been decided yet’. What he was surprised about was the amount of staffers who came to see the announcement, including Lyor and Aaron. “That was a nice statement.” He heard behind him as they finally got out and turned to see Lyor catching up with him.

“Kendra’s? Thanks. I didn’t expect Trey to be quite so camera shy though.” Seth had always thought that the President’s brother would be much more comfortable in front of the cameras than he was, but he’d definitely been much more timid than expected. Now this part was all over, at least, and there could be no more questions. “At least it was easy to give the President’s statement and now they don’t need to be thinking about it. I spoke to Judith on the phone this afternoon between everything else to get her statement written too.”

“I think you handled the Bolivia situation well. I’m clearly rubbing off on you.” Lyor had a hint of smugness in that statement and Seth just rolled his eyes at it. Of course his partner would find some way of making this about him. He had not been the centre of attention for a few hours and Lyor Boone couldn’t have that.

“I was in communications before I met you, Ly.” Seth prodded and smirked, knowing that it was just going to annoy him. That was Seth’s favourite thing to do and it seemed to be working wonderfully for him right now, probably not so much Lyor’s favourite thing.

“But you weren’t always very good.” Lyor shot back, the same teasing look on his face. Seth remembered a time he used to take all of these barbs seriously and get insulted. Now he knew most of the time they were just Lyor’s way of looking for a reaction. “I remember some of the briefings from that first year. You weren’t exactly the best, were you?”

Seth shook his head a little and spotted Kendra walking toward them. Likely heading in the direction of the residence. Her day was done now meaning she’d finally get a break, she deserved it. Seth wanted a break too soon but he could get home soon. “Night, Ken.” It seemed only polite to hope she was having a good night.

“Night boys, don’t get into any trouble tonight.” She cautioned with a large grin on her face. Seth wondered what trouble she thought he and Lyor might be getting into but he decided that asking that wasn’t going to be polite. Instead, he just nodded and gave a wave, slowing his pace and feeling Lyor slow to a stop beside him.

“We’ll try.” He called after her then turned to see her walked straight to where Trey was waiting for her. Seth watched them until they were out of sight and he was glad to know that nothing that had happened recently had changed the person that Kendra was deep down. “She does look happy, doesn’t she?”

“I don’t think it would be possible for her to not be happy right now,” Lyor responded, showing a lot more interest than Seth had actually expected. Normally Lyor avoided any and all discussion of Kendra’s relationship, to the point where Seth had wondered if some of his reactions were jealousy at one point, now he realised it was just discomfort. “Despite my reservations, Trey is good for her.”

That was an even bigger shock for him. He hadn’t thought that he would ever hear Lyor admitting that he’d been wrong about something so important. “Have you changed your mind on them?”

“I’ve just… come to accept that politics and appearances aren’t everything.” Given that Lyor’s livelihood was based on ensuring that appearances and politics were right for the White House that was a huge admission. They all knew there would be questions about Kendra and Trey but it did matter most that they were happy. “I want her to be happy, she’s my friend.”

“I think she’s still my friend.” He said quietly. In his mind, she was still his friend but that didn’t mean that she automatically felt the same way that he did. He couldn’t actually blame her if she had issues that were much more than he could apologise for, but she never seemed to be that type.

“You didn’t talk to her?” Seth shook his head. Despite today and how it has seemed like Kendra didn’t hold anything against him, Seth still hadn’t actually apologised to her or spoken to her about what had happened over the last several months. “Seth come on, you’ve been back at work for four days.”

“And we’ve been more than a little busy.” He couldn’t help but sound a little defensive.  “I’ll find time to talk to her soon, I promise.” Seth followed Lyor back to his office and thought about everything that was going on and exactly how much Trey and Kendra had made him think about his own relationship. “Do you ever think we’ll be at the point they are? I mean… they’ve only been together a week longer than we have.”

“One day, maybe. I’m happy where we are right now.” That was something that Seth could agree to, but he was most surprised to hear Lyor admitting that, maybe, one day, he would be in the position where he’d consider getting married again.

“Me too, I’m just wondering. It’s a long trip home.” Seth was ready to leave and it was a thought that he hoped they could both think about as they went home, together or not. More often than not they went home together. It was rarely planned but Seth didn’t remember the last time they’d been at his apartment. “As long as it’s something we’re not counting out that’s good enough for me.” He smiled again and let it go with a warm feeling in his chest. One day, that was enough. One day.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I'm sorry this took so long. I was off on holiday this last week and the week before that i had a medical procedure that I had a terrible reaction too so I was sick for a few days. Now I'm hoping to get back into the swing of this fic!

Trey had been thankful his friends had called him to get lunch today, they had a lot to talk about, mostly how Trey wasn’t going to be joining them on their treks abroad this time. They had all enjoyed travelling but he was settling down now. Kendra wouldn’t stop him going if he really wanted to go, Trey knew that, but if it meant leaving her behind for three months he didn’t want to go. He was about to go in when he heard his phone and just held a hand up, telling his friends he’d be there in a second. He expected the call to be Penny or Kendra, so he was surprised when Judith’s name was the 9ne lighting up his screen. “Trey, are you free?” She asked, the same distaste for small talk as her daughter. It did worry him that something might have happened that she didn’t want Kendra to know about and he was worried about being put on that situation.

“I am, what’s wrong Judith?” ‘ _please nothing serious’_ he prayed, hoping beyond hope that she was calling for really anything else. Though he was really struggling to come up with a good reason for why she’d be calling him if it wasn’t for that. Oh god, what if something had happened to Kendra. They weren’t married yet, Judith was still her next of kin. Trey quickly checked the news while waiting for Judith’s response and didn’t see anything. Thankfully with Kendra’s position if anything happened to her it would be on the news very quickly.

“Nothing. Nothing wrong I just need to ask you a favour.” He let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding and he heard the soft clicking of Judith’s wheelchair over the line. He didn’t know where she was but the echoes didn’t sound like her house. “It’s not a very big one but it will...”

Trey’s attention was pulled away as the door to the restaurant opened and one of his oldest friends stuck his head out. Trey had been friends with Mitchell Robertson since they were five years old, and Midge had never really grown up far past that. He had obviously decided that Trey was taking too long. “Captain Kirk, what are you doing? We wanna eat before we all starve.”

“Hold on, Midge, it’s my future mother-in-law.” He pointed to his phone and turned away again, hoping that Judith wouldn’t find that terribly rude. There was only so much that he could do when it came to controlling Midge. He’d always been the type who did whatever he wanted. “I’m with a couple of friends but I can get away if you need.”

“It’s nothing urgent enjoy your time with your friends. I don’t want to pull you away.” Trey was actually secretly a little disappointed that she didn’t need him urgently purely because he would love for a reason to get out of spending hours more with Midge. He hadn’t seen Midge in a while though, and catching up before he met Kendra was definitely needed. “Just come when you’ve finished if you can.”

“No problem, Judith. About three hours.” He nodded a little then hung up and went in, Midge’s bright blue shirt standing out against the wood of the restaurant they were meeting in. Almost as soon as Trey slid into the booth he knew what was coming from Midge. Trey wasn’t sure that Midge had had a single long-term relationship and he did love to mock Trey for his.

Sure enough the smirk was firmly in place when he looked up and Trey braced himself. “Ahh calls already from the mother in law? Have you and Kendra even set a date yet?” Alright, it wasn’t as biting as he was expecting giving some of the thing that Midge had said in the past. Though most of the time Midge already knew the girl he was dating, that was not a problem here. Not yet at least.

“Not yet. I think we’re both hoping for something early in the new year.” He would admit that he and Kendra hadn’t actually talked about dates yet. They both knew they wanted for it to be soon but they needed to fit it around what was happening at the White House too.

So really, the last thing that he needed was to be reminded of that, but they had been engaged for exactly eight days. He wasn’t sure how they were supposed to have already set a date. “It’s already November fourteenth, you’ll need to get a move on for the new year if you’re sure you should be doing this?”

“Yes I’m sure!” Trey rolled his eyes, having known that was coming. Midge couldn’t just let Trey be happy without doing his self-imposed duty to make sure that he was certain. “We don’t want anything big, and we have half the White House staff arranging it. I feel like it may be considerably quicker than average.” Trey just smiled thinking about how in the next few months he really was going to be married to the love of his life. “I can’t wait, honestly.”

“I’ve seen you date many girls, you’ve never been like this.” It was nice to hear Midge saying that as it meant that it was obviously different this time. Trey felt different this time, too. That was the whole point. He didn’t have to think or worry when it came to Kendra, she just got him.

“None of them were Kendra,” Trey said simply because he was sure that everything had been bringing him to this point in his life. Kendra was the person he was meant to be spending his life with and nothing anyone said would change his mind about that. “Anyway, I now have things to do so let’s get on with this since you’ll be seeing me again tonight.”

Trey spent the entirety of lunch turning down various offers of vacations with Midge and his band of merry travellers. In the past, Trey rarely turned them down but now he wasn’t sure that he could disappear for months on end without Kendra. He didn’t want to be away from her that long if he could help it, he didn’t really want to be away from her at all but he knew that likely wasn’t possible.

When he arrived at Judith’s place he was slightly surprised to see her chair empty on the deck outside her front door. He felt a moment of panic as he dashed up the ramp and found his soon-to-be mother-in-law on the floor trying to pull herself up. “Judith! What are you doing?”

“I thought I could do it with just the walker.” She said as Trey jumped through and helped her onto the sofa then knelt in front of her as she caught her breath back. Trey stayed there in case she fell forward or anything else happened to her. After a few moments, she just looked up and caught his eye again before she spoke. “I want to learn to walk, again, and I’d like you to help me.”

“What?” Always to the point, something that Trey liked about both the Daynes’, but this was one that he hadn’t expected. It seemed to come entirely out of the blue and he wasn’t sure that Judith had had this thought before, from what Kendra had said, Judith had been functionally paralysed for the majority of her life and Trey wasn’t sure that even Judith could remember the last time she walked properly.

“I have physical therapy too, but they recommend I practice three times a week and I have nobody to practice with… and I want to surprise Kendra on your wedding day.” Well, that definitely explained why she wanted for him to be the one helping her but he didn’t know why she had decided this and he was really worried that she wouldn’t have the time to do it.

“You realise we want to get married quickly, right?” Sure there was no date but Trey didn’t think it would be much longer than two or three months. Tonight after their dinner with Midge he was going to try and get Kendra to help him pick the date.

“Ken mentioned that but I think we can do it quick.” Trey briefly looked to the floor then shifted his position so that he could sit on the sofa next to Judith rather than remaining crouched on the floor. “I don’t need to be able to walk unaided. A cane or crutch is fine I just… I want to be able to walk with my little girl down the aisle.”

“Of course I’ll help.” Trey smiled in the end. As long as Judith didn’t have any unrealistic expectations. “She’d be thrilled. I’ll have to convince her not to arrange for anyone else to walk her though.” Not that he thought that would be hard. The few times they’d spoken about it Kendra had said she was walking alone. “I don’t think she wanted anyone to if it wasn’t you, though.”

“You’re a good man, Trey, and you understand my Kennie better than anyone I’ve ever known.” Judith smiled and patted his cheek. There was something about knowing that he had Judith’s blessing that just made him feel more like this was exactly the family he deserved to be in. Judith didn’t care about his black marks as long as he was a good person and Trey liked to believe he was that, and he was sure that Kendra was making him a better one.

“I love her and I’m pretty sure that she’s the only person who’s ever really got me.” It certainly felt that way. He’d thought that it was Midge for a long time, but given how Midge didn’t understand what Trey was doing now that clearly wasn’t right. He just shook that off and stood up, holding his hands out to Judith. “Alright, how are we gonna do this?”

It was exhausting to help Judith but after a couple of hours Trey could see the improvement and Judith was feeling very buoyant when he left. He still had a couple of hours before he was due to meet Kendra so he decided that he’d go and see Tom, figure out if he was busy or if they had time for a chat. It was a good sign that his brother was in the residence, and so he headed up there rather than trying to get in the West Wing. Almost as soon as he walked into the sitting room in the residence Tom looked up and grimaced. “You look more exhausted than me.”

“I had lunch with Midge then spent all afternoon with Judith.” It didn’t sound like it was too tiring of a day put like that, though Tom knew Midge and would probably not be that happy that Trey was still in contact with him. As for Judith, well that was something that needed explaining. “Judith has this grand plan for a surprise for Kendra for the wedding.”

“There is a part of me that still can’t believe you’re getting married.” Tom smirked, clearly deciding that he was going to leave the mention of Midge well alone. Something that Trey was grateful for. He already was overthinking everything for the moment he didn’t need to overthink anything further. “My little brother, married.”

“Believe me, I can’t believe it either.” Trey confirmed. Until he’d started dating Kendra he had never seen himself getting married, he’d never even seen himself truly settling down. There was nothing in his relationship history that made it obvious that he would one day change his ways. “Kendra is the one though, you always said that when I knew I’d know… and I do.” That was the one thing that nobody had ever been able to explain to him in better words, but now he understood why. “It’s not always easy, though. Sometimes it’s much harder than I’d like.”

“What do you mean? I thought you’re crazy about her?” Tom was clearly slightly concerned that he was going to step away from the engagement which was at least something that he could reassure him about. Trey had no intention of letting his overthinking ruin anything with Kendra, he just wanted to say it to someone.

“I am, don’t get me wrong I love her and it’s like she’s a piece of me I didn’t know was missing but… She works damn hard here for you, and even at home she’s often thinking about what she needs to do here. It doesn’t ever leave us alone.” That was the only problem he had, and that was that it was hard to escape his brother’s influence. Not really the most romantic thing.

Tom looked sympathetic but it was clear that he wasn’t actually all that sorry about it. Not that that was a surprise either. There was no way that he was ever going to have felt anything else. “While I’m here, and while she’s working for me… I guess it’s going to be difficult to get over that but don’t let it take you down, Trey.”

“Oh believe me I won’t.” He laughed because he knew that Tom had always been something that Trey had to live up too. Being the younger brother of Tom Kirkman had given him an inferiority complex long before all of this. That was part of their more contentious history that they had both tried to but behind them. It wasn’t going to stop Trey winding him up when he had the chance. “You’ve been annoying me for thirty-six years Tom, I’m used to you getting in the way.”

“Well, if you weren’t so easy to annoy…” Tom teased and Trey had to resist the urge to throw a cushion at him. It was true but that didn’t actually make Trey feel any better. In fact, he didn’t want to admit it at all. He wasn’t actually that easy to annoy, but Tom knew every way to get under his skin.

“I’m not!” He yelped before taking a breath and just deciding to admit it. “Okay maybe I am but still… I’ll share my future wife with you for now, but the minute she doesn’t work for you anymore I’m whisking her away.” Trey left that dangling and they both settled back into the sofa, staring at the news station playing on the TV. Something Trey would never be used to was exactly how much everyone who worked in the Administration watched the news.

After a few minutes of silence broken only by the TV, Tom sat up a little more and looked at him. “Are you and Kendra joining me and the kids at Camp David for Thanksgiving?” That was actually a good question. Trey hadn’t asked Kendra what her Thanksgiving plans were but he could fold that into all the things they needed to talk about tonight.

“I am, I’m not sure about Kendra. I know she and her mom have plans usually but I’ll ask her tonight.” There were a lot of questions about it, really, that Trey hadn’t thought about. For some reason he’d just thought that these would work themselves out on their own, forgetting that to do that there still needed to be discussions.

“We can bring her mom, too.” That was something else that Trey could bring up to Kendra, but he knew that Judith had rarely, if ever, left Washington DC and with her being in her wheelchair accessibility was a concern. Trey didn’t want the Secret Service having to carry Judith around places. No, they’d have to think things through later.

“Her mom is in a wheelchair, Tom. Camp David isn’t the most accessible place is it?” He had never actually been there, but he had the idea from TV shows and things that Seth and Lyor had said about it in the past. It was basically a woodland camp and Trey didn’t see Judith having all that much fun there.

Tom nodded a second later, clearly seeing the logic in Trey’s argument as well. “Well, no alright, you have me there. You and Kendra need to talk with Judith about her getting a small secret service detail too.”

“I’m sure she’s going to _love_ that.” Trey rolled his eyes a little at that and groaned. He had gotten used to his detail, the four agents that seemed to alternate. They were very hands-off with him and he didn’t even think about them most of the time. Kendra also had her own detail now too which had changed very little about her life. They were all independent, they were just followed places. “She’s too independent to like having security.”

“Her daughter is marrying the President’s brother… it would depend, obviously, when you and Kendra are planning on getting married.” Trey realised that they hadn’t even told Tom when about they might be getting so it was not a surprise that he was thinking maybe they could wait until after the election.

“Early in the new year, your planners are already trying to get us to set a date.” He chuckled a little and nodded. He had an idea when he wanted it to be, he’d been thinking about it the entire drive back from Judith’s, and he hoped that Kendra would agree with it. “I’m going to suggest January thirteenth. Start a new year with a new life.”

“I think that’s a fantastic idea.” Tom was positively beaming at the fact that Trey had a date in mind. There was still a lot more that they needed to get through but right now that was not the most important thing. “Here at the White House?” That was another good question, but Trey couldn’t think of anywhere else to have it where they could secure it and not cost an absolute fortune. This would be easier but there would be one thing they knew about.

“Probably, with our parish priest officiating.” Father Joe was going to be someone that they were happy about doing it. He’d been there for them both during the worst parts of the last couple of years and Trey couldn’t picture anyone else being the officiant.

“ _Our_?” Tom asking for clarification on that was definitely entertaining to Trey and it made him realise that Tom had never actually connected to the fact that Trey went to church and had been doing for a long time. Faith had given him focus and community when he had felt like he had none. It was good for him that Kendra was the same.

“I started going back to church when I got on meds years ago. Kendra and I have been in the same parish, though I didn’t realise until we started dating.” How he’d missed her and Judith every Sunday he didn’t know, but Kendra tended to stay at the back and Trey was on the other side. “You do remember that she’s a devout Catholic, right?”

“Well I knew she was practising but I suppose I didn’t think she was actually all that serious about it.” That wasn’t really surprising either. Tom tended to downplay the faith of others after he had lost his faith long before he was President. “You never seemed to take the teachings all that seriously.”

Trey wasn’t answering that and so he decided that it would be easier to change the subject back to something that would actually be good for them both. Despite all their problems Tom was still the only person that Trey could imagine having one very specific role in the wedding. “I do have one question for you, relating to the wedding.” At the confusion on Tom’s face he just smiled. “Will you stand up there with me. You know... Be my best man? I could always ask Midge but...”

“I’d be honoured, Trey.” The grin was back and now even bigger than it had been before and Trey felt like he had done probably the biggest thing that he had needed to get done today. One of them at least. He still had the evening to get through and there was the shopping list of things that he needed to talk to Kendra about. The day wasn’t over yet. He only stayed a few more minutes then went down to collect Kendra.

He knew that she wasn’t sure about this. She’d met a few of his other friends, his more _respectable_ friends. The ones he knew from Wall Street, those who she would definitely have things in common with and they had all loved her. Midge was definitely not that type and Trey was a little nervous too. “I’m not sure I’m ready for this. I’ve heard horror stories about this friend.” Tom. Of course. That explained so much.

“Midge isn’t as bad as Tom makes him out to be, I swear.” Trey said quietly, wrapping his arm around her and holding her close to his side. “He did try to convince me to go on a three month trip to Bora Bora with him this morning though.” That would have been something Tom mentioned, he was sure. That Midge never stayed in one place for long. “I said no, I’m a grown up now and I couldn’t leave you and Penny that long.” He had other reasons too, but Kendra and his family were the biggest. “Besides, the one year leave of absence I took is over in February and I want to go back to work.”

“That’s going to be weird, you’ll be working out of the DC office though, right?” Kendra actually sounded a little worried that he might be going back to work in New York, but that was definitely not something that he was even considering. Until she could move, he was staying here in DC.

“I’ll arrange all that when I’m going back to work and it’s still a couple of months away.” He kissed her temple and squeezed her softly as they got to the entrance and he could already see the emerald green suit that Midge had changed into. This was probably going to be the biggest challenge to their relationship so far and suddenly Trey was even more nervous than he had been before. “Let’s go in. Remember I love you.”

“Wait, why you saying that?” She asked but as Trey pulled her along with him he decided that it would be impolite to answer. As they stepped up to where Midge was stood at the bar Trey could tell that he was trying to charm the bartender there, though he didn’t seem to be buying Midge’s charm any more than the average did.

“Midge, this is Kendra. Ken, Midge.” Trey introduced them, feeling Kendra’s left hand gripping his shirt at the back as she stretched a hand out to shake Midge’s. Given that Trey knew that she’d negotiated with terrorists and serial killers over the course of her career he was a little surprised by how hesitant she was being.

“God, you’re more beautiful in person.” Midge grinned in response to Kendra’s greeting and Trey had to encourage her just a little more, especially once Midge started leading them through the restaurant. “Come on I got us a table by the fountain.” He was walking beside Kendra until he felt his phone ringing and paused.

“Babe I just need to take this, it’s from Leo.” He said and pushed her on a little while he hung back. Calling forward as he encouraged Kendra to keep going. He was going to never hear the end of that but he needed to answer the call from his nephew since he didn’t know what the call was about. “Midge you be careful with her.”

“I love that dork, even if he has the most boring job in existence.” He heard as he stepped away, picking up Leo’s call as he stepped out to the street again. It wasn’t at all as urgent a call as he’d expected, but given that Leo was 18, across the country and having his first few months at college Trey supposed everything was serious.

And you just couldn’t call your dad to ask how best to get into a girl’s bed. Once Leo was sorted he headed back in and to see Kendra and Midge deep in discussion about something. “Spontaneous isn’t always for the best, especially not when it’s like what was going on.” That was not a conversation that he wanted to know about, and he had a feeling that it was about him anyway. “Everything okay with Leo?” Kendra asked the second she saw him taking the seat next to her.

“Yeah, he needed advice on a girl.” He rolled his eyes and smirked a little as he leant over and kissed Kendra’s cheek softly, hoping that it would be grovelling enough that she’d forgive him for running off when she first met his friend. “Everything okay here?”

“Couldn’t be better. She’s a good egg this one.” Midge answered, seemingly not really caring all that much what Kendra had thought of the conversation. Trey just shook his head and laughed a little, reaching beneath the table and taking hold of Kendra’s hand.

Dinner was definitely an experience, once Kendra got over that momentary shyness that seemed to come along with her meeting new people in a social setting she ended up getting into a few good debates. Though Trey wasn’t sure if Kendra considered them debates. She seemed quite relieved when they took their leave to walk home together quietly. “That was an experience. Does he have to come to the wedding?” She asked then a horrified look crossed her face. “He’s not your best man is he?”

“No, I asked Tom to do that and I think Midge’ll be out of the country for the wedding.” Of course, he couldn’t be absolutely sure where Midge will be, and Trey was going to invite him but mostly he was a little sad that Tom had been right that Kendra wouldn’t appreciate his friend. “He’s not that bad is he?”

“Trey he preferred it before you were medicated because you were more spontaneous,” Kendra said exasperated and Trey would admit that that was something that possibly Midge needed to rethink but he wasn’t going to say that to him. “I love you and I don’t like that influence but I’m never going to stop you spending time with one of your friends so I can tolerate him and maybe even eventually learn to appreciate him.” There was a rush of affection as she said that and he knew that she meant it too.

“And I’m not going to make you spend time with someone you don’t enjoy the company of. Midge and I can grab dinner whenever he comes to town.” Trey was glad that she’d be open to trying to get to know him better, but he didn’t want to make her spend time with someone she didn’t trust. The fact she would have supported him just because Midge was important reminded him that he was so lucky that she had decided he was worth the risk. “What did I do to deserve you?”

“Breathed.” She answered with a smile then wrapped her arm around him so they could walk a little closer together through the cold streets. “I need to talk to you about something.” Oh god. How he hated those words and he hated how she left them hanging. Dinner hadn’t been that bad, had it. He was about to ask what she was worrying about when she continued speaking. “I’m staying in DC for Thanksgiving.”

“Oh. Why?” He tried not to sound a little disappointed by it. He had kind of guessed that she’d be staying here, that was what he’d told Tom earlier, but it was disappointing to learn that he’d been right about it. “I mean, that’s fine but I was going to talk about plans with you tonight.”

“Someone needs to stay to help Lyor run the White House and my mother doesn’t like leaving if she doesn’t have too.” He had known that being with her mother was important but he hadn’t even considered that maybe she’d be wanting to stay to help keep his brother’s administration stable while almost everyone was out of town. “But you can call me any time all week and I’ll answer.”

“You’re sure?” Trey watched as she nodded and he knew that her mind was made up. He wasn’t so egotistical to think that he could change her mind but he did want to mention what she’d be missing out on. “I’ll miss you, you could have come up to Camp David with us.”

Kendra smiled a little more then squeezed him softly. “Have your last bachelor Thanksgiving with your family, next year we’ll do something different.” Next year they would be married and would likely be able to have everybody to their home rather than them needing to go out of town for it to begin with. “I promise we’ll be together for Christmas.”

“Ken… I think between you and Tom I couldn’t go anywhere this Christmas.” They had both been horrifically affected by Alex’s death and he felt like it was going to be a hard time for the both of them. “Let’s get home we need to think about dates so I can put things in motion.”

“January thirteenth.” She said without prompting, just looking at him as she said it. His mind was shot back to his conversation with Tom and he felt his grin spreading again. She’d picked the same date he had without either of them talking to each other beforehand. “That’s when we should get married. January thirteenth.”

“January thirteenth it is. I’ll start talking to the White House schedulers tomorrow.” He was going to be doing the bulk of the planning on this wedding and he wasn’t unhappy with that. They had a date and now he knew what day he would be becoming Mr Kendra Daynes, and he was quite happy with that. He was thrilled that he had the chance to say that and now he knew exactly when. Tonight may not have been a complete success but he’d done part of what he’d needed to do and they could move on with it all.


	20. Chapter 20

This whole week had been quiet but today the West Wing was empty. He could walk entire corridors without seeing anyone and it was more than a little disconcerting. He hadn’t expected for it to be this empty but he also hadn’t been here for Thanksgiving yet. The year before his mother had been a little more conscious of the fact it was a holiday. This year she didn’t have a clue and he didn’t have time to check on her. The world didn’t stop turning just because it was a holiday in the US. However it was still a light day, and he found himself planning out campaign strategy and drawing up a list of names to take over the President’s campaign so that he would be able to focus on his work here. He was still mulling over the last name on his list when there was a rustling by the door and before he could look up and see what hapless junior staffer had come to ask him an inane question a familiar voice spoke. “Mr Boone.”

“Ah, Tricia. I hoped there was at least one person I actually recognised still in the building.” Despite his hesitation to hire her initially Tricia had become indispensable. She was also polite and respectful, which was more than he could say for a lot of junior staffers. Their White House may be a little more formal than others had been, but it worked for the culture they needed here.

“Yes, sir.” Tricia smiled, clearly silently thrilled at being one of the people that Lyor recognised and counted as being known enough to be familiar with her. Lyor also felt more comfortable knowing that there was at least one trustworthy person in the building with him. “Ms Daynes is here too.”

“Oh is she? I wondered who else from the Senior Staff was going to be staying on.” He hadn’t been certain anyone else would stay, but Lyor had a feeling that nobody quite trusted him to be here in his own. “Is there something I can help you with?” He just realised that she’d come to him and he’d distracted her from whatever she’d come for.

“Mrs Callahan called to remind you that you should call her if you need any information and that Camp David isn’t too far away for her to come and kick your butt.” Tricia looked absolutely thrilled to be able to say that to her boss, and Lyor didn’t think he could blame her. She was too polite to have said that herself, which was how Lyor knew it had to come from Beth. He hadn’t liked the Chief of Staff at first, but in the end he’d come to like her.

“Isn’t she supposed to be eating turkey or something?” He asked, though mostly he was being facetious. He didn’t really care what Beth was doing and while he was the one here making sure that nothing went to hell she was still in charge, wherever she happened to be based at that moment.

Tricia didn’t quite catch that, though. “She’s British, I don’t think she celebrates Thanksgiving. She went to Camp David to staff the President.” Seth would have laughed at Tricia’s matter-of-fact answer, Lyor had to admit that she made a valid argument that he really should have foreseen and he was going to give her that.

“Also a valid consideration and a point well argued.” He span the chair around a little and frowned. In the silence, there was no indication of what was happening outside and he really wasn’t enjoying that. This place should have been bustling, and the quiet was discomforting. “It’s like the world ended and we’re the only survivors.”

“I don’t think I like that description of the skeleton crew…” Tricia shuddered just a little and shook her head. “If that were true… what does that make you?” He hadn’t thought this through enough, but he could at least try and make sense. What was it about this quiet that was making him shoot his mouth?

“A survivor, like our ultimate boss.” There, that sounded like a good thing, didn’t it? He wasn’t sure anymore but it was definitely better than making some comment about how they were possibly in purgatory or anything else. Of course, that meant he need to think about the other people here. “You are also a survivor, of course. How many staff are actually here?”

“Not counting the press and secret service? A little over 100, most of them in national security. They don’t get to take holidays off really.” That seemed to be logical but Lyor didn’t like it. They still deserved to get time off when they had chance but as they were necessary to national security he wasn’t going to complain. “About a third of them are West Wing interns who volunteered to man their departments for double time on their internships.”

“Now that is a way to use our interning system to your advantage.” Lyor smiled at that and made a mental note to get the names of each intern. Kendra would know who they were if she was the one in with them. Speaking of, he hadn’t seen her this morning so he wondered where she was. Not that he’d left his office all that much. “Do you know where Kendra is?”

“Gathering every intern that volunteered to work this week in the Roosevelt room,” Tricia told him with no hesitation and there was a part of Lyor that wondered what on earth Kendra could possibly be doing in the Roosevelt room. “Then she said she wanted someone to open the galley.”

“What the… why?” He demanded though Tricia looked just as confused as he felt. What Kendra was doing was going to be a mystery that he needed to solve sooner rather than later because there was no real reason that she should be doing any of this.

“I have no idea I just work for you both.” It was clearly Tricia’s time to be slightly dismissive, and honestly, Lyor couldn’t blame her. Instead, he got to his feet and started toward the door, not even looking at Tricia as he stepped out into the corridor. “Do you want me to arrange the national security briefing?”

“Later.” He called back, not breaking his stride to look and check whether or not she’d left his office. Tricia was a good assistant and he didn’t need to micromanage her. That was the biggest complement that he could give her.

“Alright. Are you doing the press briefing?” She yelled after him again, and he just held his hand up, hoping that it would show that he would do the press briefing later. It wasn’t something that he needed to do right this minute. The press were barely listening to what he said anyway.

At least his office wasn’t that far from the Roosevelt room, but as he approached it was just as silent as the rest of the White House seemed to be. If Kendra was there with thirty interns it wouldn’t be quiet, no matter what she had them doing. When he turned the corner he saw just one, very young, intern sat with three different phones in front of her. Lyor paused and stared for a second then just spoke. “I heard Kendra was in here?”

“Kendra?” The question was almost stammered, the young woman looking mildly terrified, but Lyor didn’t have the time for that. If she was here, where he’d been told Kendra was bringing the interns, she would have to know where Kendra had taken them now.

“Senior staff, White House Counsel, about 5’7, brown hair, engaged to the president’s brother.” There were other descriptors he could have used but very few of them were professional and even less would be known by an intern. Sometimes Lyor needed to remember that these kids weren’t privy to all the information that he had.

“Oh, Ms Daynes! She took the interns to the galley.” Just as Tricia had said she was planning. Lyor just stayed silent and stared at the intern. He hoped that, maybe, if he stayed stood there silently maybe there would be answers that made some sort of sense. “I missed most of the meeting, she has some idea for how to make today better for those of us here.”

“Why are you up here then?” Given that Lyor doubted Kendra would have thought ahead that he might go looking for her, especially since he hadn’t even been aware she was here, she doubted that it was to tell him where she was. For one thing, Lyor assumed Kendra would have made sure the intern knew who she was likely to be talking about.

There was a look of confusion across the young woman’s face again and Lyor had no idea in what department she usually worked, but he had the feeling that it wasn’t here. “I’m in charge of answering all the phones.” She ended up saying after he played for a few more seconds of silence that she felt compelled to fill.

“ _All_ the phones. Why aren’t you at the switchboard? I… forget it.” He waved a hand and turned out of the door shaking his head and pulling his phone out. There was only one person that he could speak to when something had exasperated him this much, and so he scrolled through his phone until Seth’s name was top. “Apparently Kendra has taken over the galley and I have no idea why.”

“ _You know you could have at least said hello or happy thanksgiving first._ ”

Lyor gave a wry smile, knowing that his penchant for jumping straight into whatever was bothering him often annoyed Seth more than he’d admit. So, of course, Lyor enjoyed using it whenever he could. “Why would I do that?”

“ _It’s generally seen as polite. Are you briefing? Don’t fight with the junior press corps I don’t want to have to clean that up_.”

“I wouldn’t do that they are all about twelve.” Lyor would have fought if the usual press corps were there, but they had left their interns too and that meant that it wouldn’t be as fun for him if he tried to start arguing with them. “Why would Kendra take all the interns to the galley?”

“ _Have you asked her?_ ”

“No.” He answered promptly, though he would have asked her if he could find her, or if he’d known she was there in the first place. He sighed as he stopped outside of Seth’s office and even though they were speaking on the phone he wished that he could just push open the door and Seth be standing right there. He put his hand on the door for a second then realised what a fool he was making himself look and without a single mention of how much he was missing Seth he continued on with the conversation. “Are you having a good time?”

“ _Mikey brought a girlfriend. I’m getting quizzed about you. It could be worse._ ”

“Mr Boone. Security is calling from the east entrance, Judith Daynes has arrived without an appointment and I can’t find Ms Daynes.” Tricia looked like she’d run halfway around the White House, and the only thing Lyor could think was that he was mildly annoyed that she stopped Lyor from asking Seth more about what his family wanted to know.

“This day couldn’t get weirder.” He mumbled to himself, glad that only Seth and Tricia could hear him. It did mean that he was going to have to end the call, and there was part of him that really didn’t want to do that. “I’ll have to go, now Kendra’s mother is here.”

“ _Sounds like an exciting day. Sorry I’m missing it. Wish Kendra a happy Thanksgiving from me. Call me when you get home tonight._ ”

“I’ll tell her.” He didn’t need to confirm that he’d call, or say goodbye, that wasn’t how Lyor worked, so he just dropped the call and lifted a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. “I guess I’m going to the East Entrance before the galley.” He thought about that for a moment, and speaking with Kendra might be easier in his office. “Actually, can you go to the galley and tell Kendra I’d like to speak to her in my office right away please?”

Kendra never showed up at his office, which didn’t surprise him really. She had sent word back with Tricia that if he so urgently needed to speak to her he could accompany her mother to the Galley, which was exactly what he ended up doing. Judith clearly already knew her way, and it was a surprise to Lyor exactly how much like her daughter Judith Daynes was. She could probably make friends with a troll, if trolls actually existed. He stepped back when they arrived, letting Kendra speak to her mother a moment before she came over to him, and Lyor’s first question was the one he just hadn’t been able to answer on his own. “What are you doing?”

“There are a couple of hundred hungry people in the building who are all missing out on spending the holiday at home with their families, so I thought that I would make things easier for them by making it seem more like home.” All at once Lyor thought that was the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard… and exactly what he should have expected for Kendra to have been doing today.

“What you’re trying to tell me is that you cooked Thanksgiving dinner for 200 people?” Kendra nodded but there was something in her face that made Lyor even more confused.  “Just like that?” How had she pulled this all together just today, especially given the number of people that would have had to be involved?

“Well the interns had to go find a Costco that was open and it was for more people than that but... Yeah.” She was beaming as she looked around the room that was still bustling with activity, the interns clearly amusing themselves and proud of what they were doing here. “It’s not exactly hard, momma and I did it last year too.”

“Ah, I was with my mother last year.” He frowned a little, the memory of how much she’d deteriorated in just one year made him sad. Last year she’d been so vibrant. This year she was pretty much the opposite of it, and he didn’t think that she’d see next Thanksgiving if he was honest about it.

“I called her nursing home, by the way, she wouldn’t eat the turkey.” There was a second’s pause where he thought about that, he hadn’t even considered checking up on her today, his mother wouldn’t even know it was a special day, he was thankful he had a close friend that was as thoughtful as Kendra. “I made her a plate up for you to take when we’re done. No turkey on it. You should take that to her when we call it quits for today.”

“You know the press is here?” Lyor asked as he suddenly spotted some of those who had been in the press room this morning and narrowed his eyes. This was such a precious thing that Kendra was doing… he didn’t want to see how the Press would mess it all up if they were here by surprise.

“I invited them, Lyor. They need to eat too and think of the positive press coverage you could spin this into.” When did Kendra become such an expert in both politics and the media? She was right, this would be excellent for them to use politically, especially with the election upcoming. “White House senior staff making sure staff who remain here to keep the country running and the local homeless shelter have ample hot dinners for today.”

“Wait... How much did you actually cook?” Lyor knew there was a homeless shelter not too far away that always tried to arrange something for them on Thanksgiving but Lyor hadn’t imagined that she would have made that much.

“Probably enough for about 400 people. We’re going to take trays down once people here have finished eating. There are vegan and vegetarian options too.” Given that Kendra herself was vegan he’d assumed that there would be options for those who didn’t want to eat meat too. That just showed him even more that she must have been thinking about this for a while. “I was the only one here last year so I just... Did it. Had more interns to cook this year.” He considered making a mention that though things were dire when it came to getting ingredients this late in planning she surely hadn’t had to resort to cannibalism to feed the homeless, but he decided against making that comment knowing what she’d meant. “I just hate that people have to be away from their families. With mom being so nearby that’s why I always volunteer, plus it means I get Christmas.”

“You’ll have your own family next year Ken. Trey, the President, Penny, Leo… and your mom.” He probably didn’t have to count off her family to her but this was really the perfect time to remind her that everything was changing. Next year maybe he’d be here alone. He felt if he was he’d have to keep up Kendra’s tradition.

“Possibly another new member too. I mean, I’m not sure yet but it’s possible.” She said that quietly and Lyor nodded before silently trying to work out what that was supposed to mean. He then turned to her, mouth agape, and wondered if he had figured this out correctly.

“Are you telling me you might be pregnant?” Maybe that was said a little louder than he’d expected it and Kendra reached out and clamped her hand over his mouth before he could say the last word loudly.

“Shush! Nobody knows yet, not even Trey, but I can’t not say something with an opening like that.” She smiled a little and Lyor hoped that, if she was pregnant, she was as happy about it as he expected her to be. “I’ve just not been feeling right and I took an early detection test that came back positive. I’m going Monday for a blood test to make sure. Anyway go get some food. You’re too skinny.”

“You’d make an excellent Jewish mom.” He teased, thinking how many jokes like that he could make between now and when everyone would know about her situation. Kendra deserved all this happiness that was being given to her right now and he secretly hoped that, one day, he and Seth could be even half as happy as she was.

“I think I’ll be a good enough Catholic one.” She grinned back then handed him a plate making it clear that she wasn’t letting him avoid it any longer. “Go. Eat.” Kendra encouraged, but Lyor grabbed another plate and handed it to her, making sure that she ate too. Lyor was thinking of how he could spin this now and was happy that it was something completely positive. He was also going to make sure that Kendra got full credit for her idea. Everyone was going to be well fed and Lyor hoped that was enough of a win for today.


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just four more chapters to go in this first part of this series!

Kendra had not been feeling great this morning, and she wasn’t sure how to explain why she was coming in an hour late, not that the clinic had been able to see her this morning anyway. So now she was just here, an hour late, with nothing to show for it and no doubt a packed week ahead. She hadn’t even seen Trey since he got back yet. She had been expecting that he would be the first person she’d see this morning but apparently, somehow, Aaron had beaten him to it. “How’d it go?”

“What?” She snapped, wondering for a second if Lyor had blabbed but Aaron held his hands up at how she had clearly snapped at him and she had to take a moment to take a breath and calm herself. Lyor wasn’t one to gossip, especially not with Aaron, there would be some other explanation.

“Whoa, no need to bite my head off already. Five days alone running this place with Lyor?” That made her smiled and nod a little. She should have known that he was actually teasing about being alone with Lyor given that the two of them didn’t exactly get along fantastically. Kendra had actually enjoyed herself, but she enjoyed Lyor’s company more than she did most people’s.

“It was fine, there wasn’t a huge amount to do since Beth took the majority of the work to Camp David with her.” That had been a relief for Kendra too. While Emily had taken work the year before, the vast majority had still fallen on Kendra and she didn’t like that. This year she’d been able to focus on feeding as many people as it was physically possible for her too. “The Thanksgiving dinner was a rousing success as always.”

“Yeah, we get the news in Texas, Ken. Lyor span it well” Aaron smiled, still falling into step beside her and Kendra wondered what was going on. While she, Lyor and Seth had been known to walk through the halls like this just to gossip, Aaron was not normally the person who would do that.

“Hey, I gotta make sure you all saw it.” She grinned, then as she stopped outside her office and frowned turning to Aaron, trying to work out what was going on. “Is there a reason you’re following me, Aaron?” The direct question seemed to be a much easier thing to be doing than guessing at all the things that he could be doing.

“I wondered if you’d been to your office yet?” He asked, and Kendra stared at him for a second, reaching up to pull her scarf off before opening the door to her office. There were a million indications that she hadn’t yet been in the office, and yet here Aaron was, asking a question that was more than a little stupid in light of those indications.

“You can see I still have my coat on and have only just arrived at my door… So… assume that’s a no.” Alright, she couldn’t hide the sarcasm as well as she’d thought that she could, but he had just left himself so open to it. It was far too easy for her to give a sarcastic answer when the question was ridiculous.

“Hannah’s in my office. She has information for us.” Aaron said, rolling his eyes in return. She’d probably deserved that - but she didn’t care. Somehow, she wasn’t sure what was going on here but if Hannah was coming in and Aaron had let her into the West Wing it was something major. “Apparently this all goes deeper than we thought.”

“I’m coming.” She yelped as he started walking away, just throwing her bag and coat to the sofa and making sure that she had her ID card on her. She’d forgotten that once and it had not been a pretty site. Kendra wasn’t exactly short but today she almost had to jog to keep up with Aaron’s purposeful strides, but she didn’t want to ask him to slow down. They needed this information, so she couldn’t blame him for being impatient.

It maybe wasn’t a surprise either that the news was worse than they’d been expecting. Emily’s potential life as a traitor may have been going on for much longer than they’d been anticipating, and Hannah’s information could bring down the administration if they kept going like this. “So, you’re sure?” Kendra pressed once more, she just needed to know that Hanne was as sure as she could be.

“As sure as I can be. Emily was marked as an asset early after the bombing. Whether that meant she was already giving them information just not as directly or just whether they knew she could be turned is another matter, but the Russians were already following her long before Christmas.” Hannah nodded, pointing to the appropriate pieces of Intel again but none of that helped what was going through Kendra’s mind. “She was introduced to them by someone but I don’t have that information yet.”

“I should have challenged her more when she started acting… oddly.” She sighed and leant against the table. Looking down at the floor. Maybe she could have prevented this getting as far as it had. “I should have pushed back harder, especially when I learnt about the orders she was giving out.”

“You thought she was helping the President, helping the Administration. I’d have done the same thing. Don’t blame yourself, Ken.” Aaron reassured her quietly, putting his hand on her shoulder gently. She nodded and tried to focus on what was racing through her mind. “What do you suggest?” Aaron asked, and Kendra hoped he was directing it to Hannah because right now Kendra couldn’t really think of anything.

“I’ve done all I can without official backup. I’ve exhausted every lead I could find on my own and I’m all out of favours.” That seemed hard to wrap her head around, Hannah Wells being without favours but they probably had used a lot up with this investigation. “It’s time you pass this investigation on. There is more than enough evidence.”

“This is going to kill us in the election,” Aaron grumbled and Kendra knew what he was thinking but she was absolutely certain that Lyor and Seth would know a way to spin it into something that would make the President seem sympathetic. They were good at that, and Kendra would try and make sure that Emily was punished as harshly as she could be.

“Not if we spin it right. Lyor and Seth will be able to do that.” She said aloud then pushed herself up to standing properly and turned to Hannah and nodded a little. “Thanks, Hannah, prepare for getting subpoenaed.” Hannah was going to have to give a lot of evidence and Kendra would have to make sure she was prepped for that.

“I will. See you later, Aaron.” Hannah said and patted his arm as she walked by. Kendra watched that interaction and the blush that crept up Aaron’s cheeks a little as he replied. She hadn’t even known that was a thing but now she felt like she needed to know. How was she the Queen of White House gossip if she didn’t know about something _that_ juicy.

“What’s going on there, huh?” She asked, moving to stand right beside Aaron and watch Hannah as she shut the door behind her. Aaron’s blush just increased as Kendra looked up at him and she almost burst out laughing. It was nice to see that people were happy.

“Nothing. We’re just… you know.” He let that trail off and Kendra kept staring at him for a moment. This was going to be something she knew all about before she went home tonight, she’d decided. Aaron couldn’t avoid her forever. “We’ve been spending time together.” That seemed very generic and Kendra wasn’t going to accept that as being all she was given.

“Uh huh. You _will_ be telling me later… after we’ve spoken to senior staff… and called the AG. We should go see Beth.” She would make sure Aaron would tell her, even if he thought he could avoid it. This was not a conversation that she was looking forward too though. She really didn’t want to have to be the one explaining all this, and she wasn’t against throwing Aaron under that particular bus.

To Kendra’s surprise, Beth sat quietly through their explanation of all the evidence they had now built up against Emily. Given Beth had known Emily for so long Kendra was a little shocked that she didn’t seem at all surprised. “So… you think it’s time we hand it over?” She asked as Aaron came to the end of his evidence sheet.

“Honestly I think it’s beyond time. We wanted to try and hold it until after the election but now I’m convinced that will bite us on the ass if we did.” Aaron said before Kendra could say anything, he then gave her a look and repeated what she’d said to him and Hannah in their earlier meeting. “Lyor and Seth are good at what they do, they’ll be able to spin it.”

“Are you going to be able to pass it over quietly?” Beth directed her question to Kendra this time and that was something that she had to think about for a moment before she answered. Handing it over quietly wasn’t the problem, keeping it quiet once they did. It would be out of their control and that made them vulnerable.

“Sure, but as soon as a prosecutor is appointed and subpoenas start being issued it won’t be quiet anymore, and given the amount of evidence we’re handing over that won’t take long.” She spoke as deliberately and clearly as she could. No matter what happened, they needed to hand this over now. “If we keep sitting on it, though, it starts to look like a cover-up.”

Beth nodded gently, clearly still thinking it over too. “Who is likely to be subpoenaed first?” That was a question Kendra hadn’t really thought that far ahead. She could think of who was probably likely to be in the first round, and her name was up near the top of the list.

“Me, Seth, possibly Aaron. Hannah Wells who did most of the investigating.” She rattled off the names and frowned softly as she tried to think about who else might be in danger of the early rounds of subpoenas. There were others high on the list but many of them weren’t currently in the administration.

“Not Lyor or the President?” Beth pressed, an emphasis on the President and Kendra couldn’t see why he’d be called immediately given that he still knew nothing about any of this.

“I don’t think they’d call the President. Not in the first round, unless the AG and whatever prosecutor he hires want to cause problems for us in the election cycle.” That was part of the wild-card too. If the AG brought in a young attorney who was going to try and make life hard for Kendra and the Kirkman Administration that is what they’d do, but this wasn’t the worst thing that they’d had to weather.

“Let’s go and talk to Seth and Lyor about it first,” Aaron suggested, already moving to the door before Kendra and Beth could agree. While Kendra thought that was a great idea she really wasn’t sure that she wanted to put herself in the firing line of Seth’s temper when it came to this case again. They were only just getting back to a good place after the last time.

“Do you two mind if I… skip out on Seth?” She hesitated as she waited for them to stop and turn to her. She didn’t actually want to be doing this but she just wasn’t sure that she was mentally in the right place to be dealing with putting herself in that position again. “He doesn’t seem to react very well to me giving him news about Emily’s case.” She clarified when they both looked confused then Beth nodded.

“How about you go tell Lyor, we’ll do Seth together.” She said then clapped Aaron’s shoulder as they turned and headed to Seth’s office. Assuming that Lyor would be in his office Kendra took a long breath and steeled herself for Lyor’s reaction. At least his was going to be professionally pissed, and Kendra couldn’t actually blame him for that.

She almost felt guilty interrupting him when he looked entirely engrossed in whatever it was that he was doing. She hovered in his doorway and checking that the other door was shut she stepped further in then shut the door behind her before coughing lightly. “Hey, you got a minute.”

“I have several as long as it’s only you asking.” Lyor’s tone made it clear that he wasn’t in the mood to speak to most people. Kendra had always thought herself lucky for being one of the few people that he would speak to on his busy days. She had a feeling that in about two minutes he was going to sincerely regret this decision.

“It’s only me, but you won’t like why I’m here.” She moved to the chair in front of his desk and sat back a little. She hadn’t bothered to take any of Aaron’s files as she was sure that Lyor would just accept what she said. Seth was going to be the one who needed convincing and that would take all the evidence they had. “It’s going to affect the election.”

“Emily?” Lyor asked quietly then nodded. Kendra was slightly amused that she didn’t even need to speak, apparently, now for Lyor to know what she was thinking. He just frowned and dropped his glasses to the desk then rubbed his face. “What’s happened?”

“We’re handing the case over to the AG this afternoon. We can’t continue investigating it without it looking like a cover-up.” She would go into the details if he needed for her too but there was part of her that thought he wasn’t going to want to know the details, especially not when he would eventually have to testify.

There was an instant of quiet before Lyor reacted, then the reaction was just as anguished as she’d expected for it to be. “No. No, no. No!” The word increased in volume from a low whisper to slightly above his usual speaking level. “Ken we’re just about to kick off the re-election campaign.”

“You think I don’t know that?” She retorted and frowned a little but she knew that the decision she and Aaron had come to was the right one. There would be more trouble down the line if they didn’t do this. “I know that it’s just… it would be worse if we didn’t hand it over and it actually _became_ a cover-up. In the long run, I’m helping us all.”

“Is it definitely true then. I mean, not that it wasn’t already true but…” It was obvious that Lyor had still held on to a sliver of hope that they would find something that would clear their former friend but that didn’t seem to be coming. Kendra didn’t know what she could say in response so she just nodded and reached across the desk to put her hand on his. “Is it bad… I was still hoping that maybe it was all a setup?”

“I don’t think anyone wanted to believe the worst of Emily. Not even me and I’ve probably pushed this harder than anyone.” It was probably hard for anyone to believe that Kendra herself had had doubts but she had. Right up until this morning she thought that maybe there was a chance they were wrong. That niggling doubt had been vanquished now. “We’ll get through it though, all of us.”

“Are you telling Seth?” A fair question and Kendra could at least say that he was going to know, but she was still glad that she wasn’t there this time. It wasn’t something she thought that she and Seth would have survived.

“No I, erm… I chickened out of that one. Aaron and Beth are telling him.” She laughed at herself about that and shrugged. Eventually, she and Seth would need to actually talk about the situation between the two of them, but Kendra didn’t think that either of them were there yet. Ignoring it and pretending nothing had happened was working for her so far, and it seemed to be working for Seth too.

“So your other thing, the one nobody else knows about… How’d that go?” Lyor broke the silence that had fallen between them by reminding her of why she’d been so late in this morning. It was nice that she did have Lyor to talk to about this, as she didn’t want to tell Trey until she was certain.

“I have an appointment on Thursday morning to make sure. I tried to go today but they had to suspend walk-ins because of the protestors on eighteenth.” There had been a lot of them too and Kendra wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t something to do with the government for once, though, so she didn’t actually need to know.

“Let me know, okay? I’m here if you need to talk.” That could be an offer that Lyor would come to regret, too. Over the next few days, Kendra didn’t actually have time to worry about her Thursday morning appointment as she was too busy preparing all the case files for the AG. It was something she needed to put her entire department on and they had still needed to do their usual workload too. At least they could borrow the interns from Lyor’s office. Thursday arrived and she went to her appointment, and even through that, her mind was now lingering on work.

Then the news came in that the AG had appointed a special prosecutor, and the moment Kendra heard the name her blood ran cold and she had to escape from the meeting instantly. She hadn’t thought that realising what Stephen Flannery had done had affected her until that moment. She excused herself back to her office and just curled up on herself. She didn’t know how long she sat like that when she heard the door open and looked up to see Trey coming through. “You had a bad day?” He asked, that cheeky smile on his face that he got when he was purposefully asking something stupid. “Tom called me, said I should check on you. Something about you leaving a meeting in a hurry.”

“I had a terrible day.” She nodded, unfolding herself enough that when he came to sit beside her he could wrap his arms around her. This did feel better when there was someone else giving her a cuddle. “Week. Month. You name it, it’s probably been terrible.”

“What’s happened, babe?” It was such a simple opening but Kendra didn’t know how to even start this because despite six months of trying to work this out in her mind she still didn’t really know the truth about what had happened between them that night in Boise. Plenty of people and all the research told her that it was possible to be manipulated and not realise it for months or years. But that didn’t make it any easier.

She just took a deep breath and went back to the earliest part of the story that made sense to start from and went from there. “Remember we passed Emily’s case to the AG on Monday? The AG informed us who he is appointing as the special prosecutor.” It was hard to even bring herself to say his name but she knew she needed to. Trey was good at guessing but this was something he’d still need some start for. “Stephen Flannery”

“Wait… Your old boss?” Trey asked, connecting the dots in his mind, burying his head in her hair as he did. This was the safest she’d felt all day and she hoped that nobody actually needed her this afternoon because she didn’t want to leave Trey right now. “The one who…?”

“Yeah.” She’d told Trey all about her suspicions of Stephen Flannery and how betrayed she felt about it. Kendra felt his arms tighten a little and she pressed back against him a little more. “And obviously I can’t object on personal grounds and while there was enough evidence of his potential misconduct to stop his nomination… I can’t just spring it all on the AG and be like ‘oh yeah and he possibly coerced me too but I was that drunk at the time I barely remember it’.”

“If you were that drunk, sweetheart, there was no _possibly_ about it.” He said quietly, his face still buried in her hair but he didn’t need to be looking at her to know she was working herself up to a panic and he just gave a gentle squeeze before speaking again. “Baby, you need to take a deep breath. You’re okay and you’re safe, and I’ll be with you whenever you need.”

“This was going to be such a happy week, and I was going to be able to just… not feel like everything is going wrong for five minutes.” She had been looking forward to getting home tonight, getting to tell him everything that she’d been keeping inside for a week, but this had entirely side-tracked her.

“Kennie… everything will be okay.” Trey said again, kissing her neck softly through her hair and Kendra found herself believing him. Things would be okay, and that was because he would be with her. “I’ll be there, and we’ll hire Grace as your lawyer, she always had a problem with him, right?”

“Yeah.” She nodded a little, amazed that Trey remembered that tiny detail about her law school roommate and colleague at that first firm. As they sat there for a few moments in silence she remembered what she’d wanted to tell him and how it was going to be such good news. “God and I had such good news to tell you too.”

“Tell me anyway?” Trey asked after a second, pulling back to look at her. His grip didn’t loosen and that made Kendra even happier. She didn’t need to think about him letting go before she said this. She closed her eyes a second as she thought about how to say it before just going for it.

“You’re going to be a dad.” She whispered quietly, watching his face as he tried to process what she’d just said and she started to clarify with a smile. “I’m pregnant, I’m still in the early stages, about 4 weeks, but I’m pregnant and I just… I didn’t want to be telling you while I’m practically having a panic attack.” She tried to laugh it off, even if it was true. The excitement and joy that settled on Trey’s face was enough to make sure that all she would remember of today was the good part.

“Ken… you could have told me as you were doing anything and I’d be thrilled because I’m having a baby with the woman I love more than anything in the universe.” He moved forward to kiss her deeply and Kendra’s smile just continued to grow. “We’re the future, you and me and the baby and Tom and Penny and Leo. We’re a family and what Stephen Flannery did is the past and we’ll help you move on.”

“I love you.” She whispered and completely meant it. This relationship wasn’t what she’d expected when she and Trey had slept together all those months ago but she didn’t regret any of it for a single second. Kendra knew this was something that was meant to be. “I don’t know what I did to deserve you.”

“I guess you just got lucky,” Trey smirked, kissing her again before slowly loosening his arms and standing up, holding out his hands for her. “You know, I have some pull with your boss. Let’s get home early and I’ll even binge-watch The Crown with you.”

“Awww, such sacrifice.” Kendra laughed but let Trey pull her away from the sofa, wrapping his arm around her shoulders as they walked out of the building. She told Lyor she was taking an early day as they left and she didn’t regret it for a moment. Trey was right she needed to start looking to the future. She needed to forget about the past and this was one way to change it all.


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah it's been forever. This chapter was an asshole then last week my laptop broke and I have been struggling since.

Seth had barely been stepping foot in his office the last few weeks. He’d been either in the press room or he’d been in Lyor’s office helping formulate the campaign strategy. Whenever he did go in, Megan would hand him everything that he’d missed that he actually needed, most of it was mail and memos about things that he didn’t care about. Today looked like it was much the same. Especially the pile of memos that had clearly come out of Lyor’s office. “These have been sent over from Lyor’s office and this came up from Counsel’s office.”

“Kendra has her own press secretary what does she need to send up here.” It had always been customary that the Counsel would have a small staff of their own to deal with things independently of the rest of the White House if it was needed. Seth liked it, but it did mean that Kendra didn’t need his input as often as she once had.

“I don’t know, sir.” The very diplomatic answer from the junior staffer made Seth even more suspicious. He knew that anything coming for him from Kendra’s office likely wasn’t good news, and there was a small part of him that was hurt she hadn’t come to deliver it to him in person. Given the way he’d been pulling back from her over the last few weeks though maybe it wasn’t that big a surprise she didn’t feel comfortable doing that.

“Thanks Megan.” He smiled as she backed out to her desk outside his office, leaving him with the illusion of privacy as he looked through what she’d handed to him. Every one of Lyor’s memos was pointless, and not something Seth could be involved in, but the envelope from Kendra’s office was heavy, and the moment he slid the contents out he knew what they’d be. “Shit. Shit, shit, shit.”

“That’s charming.” An accented voice said from the doorway that would have made Seth jump if he wasn’t already in a state of total shock. He also had to admit that it was becoming somewhat routine that the Chief of Staff would turn up silently whenever one of them needed something from her.

“Sorry, just something I wasn’t expecting yet.” He had thought that the subpoena’s would take weeks to come, it had only been five days. Regardless he didn’t want to talk _that_ over with his boss, Emily’s replacement, right now. Not when he already hadn’t made the best of impressions since she started working here. “What’s wrong, Beth?” It seemed easier to turn it back on Beth than keep worrying himself about this and what it could mean.  

“Why does everyone assume there is something wrong if I come to their office? No, if there was something wrong you’d be summoned to my office.” Beth didn’t really make him feel any more confident about it. “No this is more of an idea I want to run by you.”

“Alright.” He motioned for her to take the seat on the other side of his desk and watched her as she shut the door when she came in. Hopefully, this really was something that he didn’t need to be worried about, because he wasn’t sure he could take it if he did need to worry.

“The British royals are paying a state visit to Canada in late July, what do you say we extend the invitation here?” Seth paused and just looked at her for a second as she said that, wondering what on Earth made her think that was a good idea. “Bring them to the White House, maybe for an informal dinner with the President. Show that despite Brexit we still have a relationship with the British.” There was an irony that a British person was speaking this way about it, but then again, Seth wasn’t sure how long she’d been in the US.

The longer he thought about it, though, the more he realised that that was exactly how people would see that kind of a visit and it was exactly what they all needed to be showing. That despite the upheavals in the governments and world order, some things were always going to stay the same. There was still one hurdle that Seth could see, and he wasn’t sure that Beth had thought that part through. “You realise there is no First Lady, right. Traditionally she would prepare for that kind of visit.”

“No, but there is Trey Kirkman. He’s acting as a de-facto First Lady.” Seth couldn’t help but snort at Beth’s suggestion. There was nothing about that mental that wasn’t hilarious and the longer he thought about it the funnier it was.

“I’m sure Kendra would love to hear you saying that.” That made the mental image even funnier and he had to let himself laugh about it. Beth didn’t seem to be seeing the funny side of it, though, and he took a breath to try and dampen it down. “I think if you can get Trey on board that the President and Kendra would fall into place fairly quickly on it.” Trey would need to bring them both on board, especially as it was almost certainly going to be after Kendra became the latest member of the Kirkman family. Seth paused for a second then and realised that Beth hadn’t said who it was going to be visiting. “Wait who is it coming?”

“The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their children.” Beth was still watching him as she spoke and that meant that he needed to try and keep his features still and not let on how freaked out he was by that idea. After a few moments of silence Beth then continued. “I mean it’s still almost 9 months away but we would need to plan this.”

“And by _we_ you mean…?” He didn’t actually need to ask the question, he knew that she wouldn’t have come here if she was going to be asking someone else to do it. He hadn’t spoken to Trey since everything had happened over Emily’s case, though, and somehow Seth doubted that Trey was going to be all that open to Seth’s requests right now.

“I need you to convince Trey that doing it would be good for the President and for the country.” There wasn’t even a beat before she said exactly what he’d thought that she would and it was just something else that made it really tempting for Seth to disappear and the world to swallow him up.

“I was afraid you were going to say that.” He mumbled as she turned and headed out the door. There were many places he could have gone to get help, Lyor would have known how to do this, he could have caught up with Beth and asked her opinion. He could have gone to see Kendra and been proactive in all of this, but that seemed like a bad idea without more of an idea.

Instead he found himself stood outside of Aaron’s door. He was sure that his friend would have an idea or five and that was what was important right now. “I need a disguise and passage out the country.” Not the best way of announcing himself, but it was something. Aaron looked up and seemed confused for a second before motioning for Seth to come in.

“You know as NSA I can’t support that but as your friend… sure where’d you need to go?” Aaron at least was giving him chance to shut the door before asking him what was going on and that was something that Seth could be eternally grateful for.

“Absolutely anywhere without an extradition treaty.” He didn’t have anywhere specific in mind and it was easier to just keep things simple and he knew that he was going to have to explain what was wrong before Aaron would be able to help. He dropped into the chair and sighed softly. “Beth wants me to convince Trey to host a Royal visit and I got my subpoena.”

“Flannery’s investigation?” Aaron frowned and Seth knew that he was probably just as worried about when he’d get his. Seth was fairly sure that right now he was the only one who’d received one but they were all going to get one before long. Kendra was going to have her work cut out for her. “I think you’re the first one. Least that proves they don’t think you’re involved.”

“What?” Seth paused for a second trying to work out what Aaron could mean by that. Seth would have thought that getting his subpoena first would have meant the exact opposite of that but he had to admit that other than the one problem Kendra had sorted out for him a year ago he’d never really had all that many brushes with the law.

“The last one to get a subpoena is the focus of the investigation.” Aaron explained and Seth just blinked a few times, letting that sink in. Maybe there was a part of him that had always just assumed that he was going to be suspect because of his relationship to Emily and the fact that she had clearly used his name more than once. Aaron didn’t seem to realise the wright he’d lifted and just continued speaking calmly. “It hasn’t even gone public yet, how has that happened? I expected it to be all over the Post the moment Flannery was appointed.”

“Kendra and the AG agreeing that for the moment it needs to be classified for national security. Everything is top level clearance.” Seth mumbled. That had been his idea to keep it contained and he’d been thrilled to know that Kendra had thought it was a good suggestion, but he was still here and he was still confused and concerned.

“Well, that’ll help for a little while anyway.” Aaron went back to whatever he’d been doing before Seth had come in, but when Seth continued just standing there waiting for an answer Aaron sighed theatrically then looked up at him again. “Why are you freaking out about the subpoena? Just go and talk to Kendra.” Oh how easily Aaron said that, but it didn’t seem like it was that simple.

He wasn’t exactly sure that he could straight up tell his friend that he was terrified of their lawyer, but here he was. Absolutely terrified. Out of everyone they worked with Kendra was scarier even than Mike, but he wasn’t about to admit that to anybody. “That’s easier said than done.”

“What dumbass thing have you done to her now?” Aaron dropped his pen to the desk and sat back in his chair, lacing his hands together behind his head and just watching in that expectant way that had always made it seem like people had no choice but to answer. It was a talent Aaron had that Seth was always slightly jealous of. Not when it was being used on him though. “Come on, what’ve you done.”

“I haven’t done anything. That’s the problem.” Seth should have apologised. Should have spoken to her and cleared the air but he hadn’t and now he wasn’t sure how to broach the topic. He had helped her with the engagement announcement and she hadn’t said anything but the elephant had still been in the room. He’d felt it there and he knew that she had too. “Not a damn thing.”

“Wait, you haven’t spoken to her yet?” Aaron bolted forward in the chair, putting his hands on the desk as if he could hardly believe what he was hearing. Seth watched as he tried to form words a few times then he just blew out a breath of air and deflated. “Seth it’s been weeks.”

“I know I just… haven’t had the chance.” He lied. He was lying. Because again, he wasn’t going to admit that he was far too afraid that Kendra might actually still be hurt. He knew that he’d caused her so much pain and she could take that out on him in ways he couldn’t even imagine. There were a lot of reasons to be scared.

Aaron didn’t look to be impressed with that answer either and he saw straight through Seth’s lie. “You’ve had a tonne of chance, you just haven’t done it and you really should. She’s not going to have a problem with you if you just go talk to her and explain everything.”

“That’s the other thing, I don’t know what to say.” There were so many things that he could say but not one of them actually felt like it was the right kind of thing to explain why he was like this. Why he had been avoiding her for months, though she’d been avoiding him too, but she had a valid reason.

“You will when you talk to her. Which you should go do now.” Aaron pointed to the door and it was clearly a sign that arguing about this was not going to get Seth anywhere at all. He wasn’t going too but it wasn’t actually putting his anxiety at ease as he thought about it.

“What if she’s still mad at me?” He mumbled but he could tell that it wasn’t going to get Aaron to allow him to stay there any longer.

“I’m sure she isn’t. Kendra doesn’t hold grudges, especially not against her friends.” Of course Aaron was right about that. Kendra had seen them all going through some dumbass stuff and they had normally ignored her when she’d been right and yet she still spoke to them. That was professional though and Seth had gone far beyond that. “Go talk to her, Seth.  It’ll be the only way to put your mind at ease.”

“Thanks Aaron.” He nodded after another moment and just squared his shoulders and headed out. His resolve lasted all the way to the corridor that Kendra’s office was on, but then he paused and looked at her open door wondering if he could still get out of this. He knew that Aaron was right all along and he needed to do this so he took a breath and took a few steps forward.

He paused as he saw Trey come to the door with a smile on his face then head in the opposite direction. At least Kendra was going to be in a good mood. Maybe that was going to be a point in his favour. Sure enough when he stopped at her door she still had the ghost of a smile on her face. When she looked up he tried to smile back. “You got a sec.”

“For you? Sure.” She said that with genuine warmth and he tried to take that again as a good sign. There was still a voice in his head that was trying to tell him that she was just being nice because it was her job, Seth wished that that voice would shut up. He stepped through the door and closed it after him then faltered when trying to think of what to say. “What’s on your mind Seth?”

“Flannery’s investigation.” That seemed like a safe starting point, it was professional, something they both needed to be gearing up for, he needed to know that everything was going to be alright and Kendra had always been good at making sure that he knew that. “I… erm… I got a subpoena.”

“I know, it came through this office first. I have a list of reputable lawyers who have the appropriate clearances for a case like this. Lyor and I already have ours and I’ve reserved Case Cramer for the President.” Kendra handed him a piece of paper, three red circles with initials beside them. There were pencilled initials after the names of other lawyers too and Seth wondered how Kendra knew who should go where. “Anyone else on this list is available. I recommend Harley Bennett for you, she’s good and you have complimentary personalities.”

That phrasing made him pause a little because he wasn’t sure what it was that Kendra was insinuating. If it wouldn’t be a conflict of interest he would have wanted her to be his lawyer. He didn’t trust many and suddenly he was realising what a gift Kendra was as a friend. “Complimentary personalities… what does that mean?” He asked, frowning a little at the list.

“It means you’ll listen to her when she tells you to do something, or _not_ to do something.” There was that hint of bitterness and anger that he’d been expecting, though it was still less than he’d been expecting.

“Alright, I deserved that.” He couldn’t begrudge Kendra her anger and he knew that he needed to do it now. This was the time he apologise and lay it on the table. He was a terrible friend and he should have been listening to her. “Ken… I’m really sorry about everything that’s been going on. I didn’t mean to be such an utter asshole to you but I was and there was no excuse for it.”

“Apology accepted.” She said almost instantly with the same bright smile returning to her face before she spoke again. “Look I know none of this has been easy for you, and I know that you’ve been concerned that we might think of you differently but we don’t. I don’t.” How even after months of barely speaking did she know him so well? She was one in a million and Seth felt lucky that she had forgiven him so quickly. “Emily is the one at fault, she’s the one who has done all these fucked up things. Not you.”

“Thanks.” He replied, feeling better from her reassurances. It was exactly what he’d needed and, when it came to this case, he hadn’t actually realised he still needed it. He’d known the others weren’t treating him differently but knowing Kendra didn’t too showed that he could get through this. “I treated you horribly, and you were just being my friend.”

“Yeah… I’m definitely not going to be giving you any news for a while, but I understand where the problems came from.” She laughed softly and Seth nodded understanding that there were still going to be walls in their friendship for a while. “Shall we just wipe it all off, start with a clean slate and go back to how we used to be.”

“I’d like that.” He really would too, if she could wipe his behaviour off then he definitely could. He remembered something that Lyor had said about Kendra and Flannery having some bad blood since she’d decided to pull his nomination, but Seth wasn’t sure if that was on Kendra’s side or Flannery’s but one way or another it was going to make things interesting. “How are you coping… Flannery isn’t the best thing for you, huh?”

“Lyor told you?” There was a hint of betrayal in her voice but she shook it off quickly, hopefully remembering that Lyor might mention something in passing if it was going to be important but even Lyor knew when something was a secret. “It’s alright, I’ll be alright. I just… don’t know how about some things in our joint past and I need to try and… own how I feel about it all.”

“Lyor only said that you and Flannery had some personal issues that arose from his judgeship nomination. He never went into details he wouldn’t do that.” Seth felt he needed to defend Lyor from that problem that Seth had created, but Kendra nodded before he’d even finished his sentence.

“Yeah… Personal issues. Well, that’s certainly one way to put it.” It sounded like there was a lot more to it than she was saying but Seth wasn’t going to pry. She’d tell him if she wanted for him to know. If it was this personal Seth was going to guess Lyor was one of the only people who knew. “I have Trey being protective every time Flannery’s name even comes up.”  

“I don’t blame him, now I want to protect you when his name comes up too.” Seth may not know the details, but the look on Kendra’s face and how protective she was being of herself told him what he needed to know. She didn’t feel safe around Flannery and that made Seth want to protect her. “Thank you, Ken. For always being my friend, even when I wasn’t being a great one to you.”

“Always, Seth. You’re one of my people so… you’re stuck with me now.” Kendra lost the panicked look on her face when he changed the subject and her reassurance erased all the fear about their friendship. It felt nice to tell the voice in his head to suck it, even if it was only a temporary reprieve.

“Wouldn’t want it any other way.” He assured her then pulled out the envelope and frowned. There were still questions and he knew he’d need a lawyer but he wanted Kendra’s thoughts on it first. “So about this subpoena…?” He prodded a little before launching into more detailed questions. Kendra was just as patient as she’d always been and Seth knew that he could start thinking about a time this might all be over.


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I suck. I can't promise i'll be any better.

Trey had thought that this trip back to New York would help him work out what he wanted his life to be now. In the last ten months everything had turned upside down and he didn’t really know what he was thinking when it came to the company he’d built up. Even before all of this he had trusted those he’d appointed and they had proven to him that he had been right to do that. A few weeks earlier he’d thought coming back to work was a great idea, now he was here he wasn’t so sure. “You sure you don’t want to come back to work full time? You seemed so positive about it the other week.” Jim asked.

“If I came back I’d still only want to do three days a week. My brother needs me, and I want to try and prioritise my family.” He actually had a family to prioritise, wasn’t that a novel and new experience. He had never thought that he’d be the one calling off work because he had a family thing, but now that he and Tom were rebuilding their relationship and he had his marriage.

“You own the company Trey, you can do pretty much whatever you want to do.” That was something that he still struggled to realise at times. There were vast parts of the youth of the company he didn’t remember all that clearly, though he’d clearly done something right. “I can stay as CEO, Tammy is a great COO. You stay at Chairman and have the final say on everything from hedging cultures to clients.” Jim Bennett was an excellent CEO and Trey would have been keeping him in position no matter what happened, but seeing how he had handled all this was making Trey feel even less sure about his thoughts of coming back.

“Sounds good to me.” He nodded, stepping through another door with a smile and nod to the junior staffer who paused for him. It was so weird to be back along these halls after all this time. “I will be permanently moving to DC though.” He felt like it would be easier to state it straight out rather than leave it even possibly open that he’d be moving back here.

“So… you’re going to be commuting for the three days a week you work?” Jim asked, tilting his head a little as he clearly thought over the implications of that. Yes, that was going to change the way many of their meetings ran, especially if Trey was going to be chairing them, but the one thing he was absolutely certain of now that he was here was that this wasn’t where he was supposed to be. He was supposed to be in another city two hundred miles away. This wasn’t home for him anymore.

“I’ll talk it over with Ken and Tom. I may be telecommuting to a lot of them.” Their opinions and thoughts about how he should approach coming back to work were the most important things, especially with the baby on the way. Not that Trey was going to speak about that. He desperately wanted too but he couldn’t, and he wouldn’t. He’d promised Kendra.

“Are you even sure that you really want to come back?” Another very fair question that Trey took a few moments to think about. Did he want to come back? Not really. He did want to be working again, he wanted to be doing something that was going to matter to him but he wasn’t sure that this was it anymore. He had thought that work was what he needed to be doing, maybe he was wrong.

“Honestly? No.” There was no reason he should hide what he was thinking, it wasn’t as though he could or would be fired. He thought that it would be better that he start doing this rather than having nothing to do, but now he wasn’t so sure. “I thought being back here would get my heart pumping the way it used to but you wanna know what I’m really feeling?”

“What?” Jim looked patient as always, and Trey now had to think about how much to say and whether he was comfortable letting his friend in on his closest thoughts. There was nobody else that he could talk too here, and he wasn’t going to call Kendra in the middle of the day just to ramble about his work situation, that could wait until he got back to the hotel. “You ready to give up?”

“I’m thinking that I should be back home.” For the first time in his life his home wasn’t here, in New York, and that was still something he couldn’t wrap his mind around fully. “I thought this was what I needed to do but now that I’m here I’m really not sure about it at all.” It was easier to just say it all at once and let it out than keep hold of it.

“How about we see about telecommuting for the meetings, see how that works in the New Year and you can make a decision in say… March.” Jim’s idea would be great but he was going to be away for two weeks in the middle of that, he had booked a great trip for him and Kendra, and even arranged her time off too.

“I’m getting married on January 13th.” Trey had to admit that he didn’t know who had got the date and, truthfully, he didn’t expect anyone else to remember his wedding date off the top of their heads. “So I’ll be out most of January.”

“Oh yeah, to your brother’s lawyer.” There was a little laugh there that caused Trey to narrow his eyes. He wasn’t entirely sure what it was that was funny about that but clearly something Jim had thought about had tickled him. “Is that weird, knowing that she knows weird shit about your family.”

“I’m marrying her, I think she’d learn the weird shit pretty fast anyway.” While Tom had some interesting parts of his history, almost all of their family problems had come from him, and Kendra had known about them long before they had begun dating, so Trey wasn’t worried at all about that “I just… need something more but I’m not sure what.”

“Give it a try and see how it feels, okay? Don’t rush into any decisions.” That was always good advice, and almost always advice that Trey ignored. He’d rushed into everything recently and it had all ended up working out for the best. He was going to still give this a try, but he was fairly sure that he was going to have to find something else to do.

He spent the rest of the day catching up with some of his old friends, making sure those that were invited to the wedding had gotten their invites, and had sent off all the appropriate information to the Secret Service to be allowed in. By the time he finally collapsed onto the bed in the hotel and scrolled through to Kendra’s name in his phone he was ready to go home. If he wasn’t so tired he would have driven home right then. As soon as Kendra answered he smiled and instantly felt better. “Hey, beautiful.”

“Trey, you okay?” Of course, she would be able to tell from his voice that there was something bothering him. She’d always been good at that. He wasn’t sure right now how he could reassure her that he wasn’t going to do anything ridiculous. He just wanted to be at home and that wasn’t what this was anymore. Home was where he felt happiest, and that was their house in DC. “How’s New York?”

“It’s cold. I mean, it’s cold at home too but I have you to cuddle up to at home.” He rambled, focusing on the cold rather than anything else because that was something that he knew she wouldn’t laugh at him about, most of the rest of his thoughts needed to be shared in person. “I just miss you. I’ve cut the trip short, I’ll be home in the morning.”

“I thought Midge wanted you to see… something?” Kendra clearly tried to remember what it was that Trey was supposed to be here to see. It was apparently all the things Midge was taking on his latest adventure with him, but Trey didn’t need to see and he didn’t really care. They’d done enough things together that he knew the ulterior motive for Midge’s invitation.

“He did but… I think he was once again trying to get me to go on this trip with him. I’d rather come home and watch The Crown with you.” Trey had not really wanted to sit through that when they’d started it but he’d ended up secretly enjoying it. If anyone but Kendra asked he would deny it, but he couldn’t lie to her.

“I finished it last night after you left. The third season will be coming soon though.” He grinned a little as she tried to reassure him that they could continue it again soon. He couldn’t help but chuckle a little as he thought about this, especially given that he was pretty sure Kendra only watched for costumes anyway.

“I can’t believe you finished it without me.” He moaned though he was mostly doing it to see what she’d offer in return. Trey knew that she would feel guilty for finishing their show and maybe be more likely to watch one of the ones that he’d wanted and she’d pushed back on.

“We still have Black Mirror. I’ll find something else too.” She paused and Trey heard rustling on the other end of the phone that said she’d probably been sat up in bed while they spoke. “I miss you but I should tell you that I’m sharing my bed tonight with a very cute blonde.” There was a flash of jealousy for a moment before he realised that she was probably talking about his niece. It also explained why she was getting out of the bed.

“Penny spending the night?” He asked even though he didn’t really need too. There was nobody else that she would be even half that casual about talking about. Tom had been depending on others more with Penny since Leo had been out at college and even more once the campaign had kicked up a gear.

Kendra sighed a little and he heard a door shut before echoes on her end said she was in the corridor. He made a mental note to find a new rug for that corridor. “Yeah, Tom’s heading out on a campaign trip at 3am so we thought a sleepover would be fun. Just us girls.” That sounded like something that Penny would have adored.

“She there?” He realised it wasn’t actually that late so Kendra may have left the bedroom so that she had some privacy. Trey didn’t actually know that much, and when they’d both had Penny she’d stayed in the guest bedroom. Trey wondered how hard it had been for Kendra not to tell Penny all about her new cousin tonight.

“She’s already sound asleep but I was worried about waking her.” Trey smiled as Kendra spoke and he wished he was close enough to grab her and give her a cuddle right then, but he was too far away and he hated it. He hated everything about this. “We went out earlier, doing all the things she should have been doing with Alex when her dad wasn’t around.” Only Kendra would think to do maternal things with his niece because Trey was sure that neither he nor Tom thought about that.

“We’re lucky to have you, Ken.” He meant that sincerely because he didn’t know what any of them would do without her quiet guidance. He looked at the clock and realised that if he wanted to be back before she went to work he needed to fall asleep right that moment. “I’ll see you in the morning. I love you.”

“I love you too.” She replied and ended the call without asking why he’d suddenly ended the conversation, but Trey was sure Kendra would have worked out what he wanted to do. It was why he’d driven up here to begin with. He’d known he’d want to go home before too long.

He was up at two in the morning and checked out and on his way back by three, pulling up at home not long after seven. Plenty of time for him to see Penny and Kendra before secret service took Penny to school and Kendra went to work. He timed it perfectly, and despite how exhausted he was he went to the White House with Kendra, deciding he could just go and fall asleep in the residence until Penny was home from school. It was exactly the morning he’d wanted and he was grateful that Kendra didn’t mind having an exhausted fiancé falling asleep on her. Trey tried not to sleep too long then just fixed up the residence until Penny was home Tom came up to join him for dinner. “You were up in New York yesterday?”

“Yeah, I went to see to my company. They are doing fine without me.” Trey smiled, downplaying why he’d been up there given the decisions he’d made once he’d arrived. He was sure that if he mentioned it to Tom he would have been supportive, just like Kendra had been, but Trey had realised that it just wasn’t what he wanted. Just two nights away from his fiancée

“Taking up another role?” Tom asked and frowned a little. Alright, maybe his big brother wouldn’t have been as supportive as Trey had thought. There was always the chance that Tom was just surprised, as Trey hadn’t actually spoken to any of them about his consideration for going back to work.

At least Trey knew exactly what he wanted now, and while he was still considering taking a more active role as chairman he wouldn’t actually be upset if it didn’t work out. He just shrugged his shoulders and tried to sound nonchalant. “Considering returning as chairman, part-time and based here but maybe I should be more involved now that things are more stable here.”

“What does Kendra think?” That was a good question because besides saying that he was going checking in he hadn’t told her in detail what he’d been thinking about. He hadn’t intentionally hidden it from her, and he would talk about her before he made any serious decisions, but she had just been so supportive of anything he wanted to do he knew that she wouldn’t have any problem.

“Kendra wants me to be happy and she supports my decisions. But honestly, I don’t think she has any opinions about it.” It would have just ensured they had a little extra money, but he would get that anyway and with the baby coming Trey was sure his availability was helpful. He couldn’t even tell Tom about that yet, though. He was about to say something when Penny instead came up and climbed into his lap. “Hey, little Pea.”

“Hey, Uncle Trey.” She said as she got herself comfortable and he smiled a little as she threw her arms around his neck. “When you get married will you still be coming around all the time?” It was such an innocent question, and Trey understood why she was asking, but he hoped that she didn’t ever really doubt it.

“Of course! I can’t stay away from my favourite girl, can I?” He grinned and leant forward to kiss her forehead. Trey grinned even wider when Penny squealed happily and tightened her arms in a hug. This was something that he wished he hadn’t missed so much of.

“I thought that was me.” Came a voice from the doorway and Trey looked over and beamed seeing that Kendra had clearly finally got out of work. She came in and smiled at Tom, giving a little nod as she did. Trey knew that sometimes she still had problems separating the fact that he was her boss _and_ his brother, but she was getting better with it. “I think I’ll happily share the title with Pen though.”

“Ken!” Penny squealed and slid off Trey’s lap. It was nice to know that he was forgotten that quickly when Kendra was around. Not that Trey could blame her, he’d pick Kendra over him any day of the week too. “Are you staying for dinner today?” Penny seemed happy enough that it was Kendra that Trey had decided to marry and he was so happy that his family all seemed to support him and they liked Kendra. That was even better.

“I am. Besides, you and me need to talk about what colour dress you want for the wedding?” Kendra smiled, though she knelt down to hug Penny rather than pick her up like Trey would have normally done. It was only then that Trey remembered that she shouldn’t be lifting at this stage of her pregnancy so he shouldn’t be surprised.

“I get a dress?” Penny looked just a little bit confused and Trey grinned wider, he knew that Kendra had wanted to ask Penny tonight and this was a really good way of doing it. It would make her excited and Trey was happiest that Kendra had already known Penny would want a blue dress so had factored it in to her plans.

Kendra was smiling just as much as everyone else in the room while Penny just remained confused but still clearly excited. Trey just nodded to Kendra as she paused and looked over to him, hopefully showing her that he still supported that she wanted this. “Well, you’re going to be my bridesmaid I hope?”

“Can I!? Can I dad!?” Penny span round to Tom with a beaming smile on her face and Trey had no idea how Tom would have ever been able to say no to that face. It was the most earnestly happy face that Trey had ever seen, and he had to smile at the fact Penny still wanted to make sure her dad was okay with it. It was sweet and he was happy that he was related to these people.

“Kendra’s asking, I think it’s your choice, Pea.” Tom smiled as she nodded then ran back to Kendra and bounced into another hug. Trey was very happy his fiancée had stayed kneeling. One look to Tom showed that he was just as happy as Trey had hoped that he’d be. Since Alex had died it had been hard to get Tom to smile, but Penny was the one sure fire way Trey knew of.

“I’d love too! Can I have a blue dress?” That was exactly what Kendra had thought Penny would say and Trey was so happy to know that she’d been right. Kendra stood up and pulled a magazine out of her bag and Trey smiled, wondering how long she’d had that in there in preparation for this conversation.

“Shall we look at some dresses together while your dad and uncle cook?” That was definitely a hint and Trey remembered that he’d had ingredients for one of Kendra’s favourite meals brought up earlier. Getting Tom to eat it as well was going to be an interesting experience but, hopefully, it would help.

“Come with me! When you get married will you be my aunt?” They heard as Kendra and Penny went toward Penny’s bedroom. Trey was sure that she was about to show Kendra every dress she owned and he hoped that Kendra was ready for the evening she had set herself up for with that.

“I think Ken’s got a fan there. Pen’s always been drawn to her though, ever since Alex died.” Tom chuckled as they both stood up and went through into the kitchen. Trey was grateful that he didn’t have to think about anything else right now given that he was beginning to feel his lack of sleep. He’d cooked this meal a million times, he just needed to double it.

“She brings something to the family, doesn’t she? I want you to get to know her Tom. Not as your lawyer or one of your staff, but as the woman I’m going to spend my life with.” Trey knew that Tom liked Kendra, but so far they hadn’t gotten to know each other really at all outside of work. Trey didn’t want them to be awkward when they were going to be related. “I’m giving her all of me and… that includes you too.”

“Tonight we are just Kendra and Tom.” Tom nodded in agreement, hopefully that was enough for it to work for her. She was the one who had the most hang-ups, Trey knew that. But she was willing to put them aside as long as she knew that Tom was. Trey just wanted them to be friends, more than just for work.

“Make sure she knows that, okay.” He pressed knowing that Kendra would still try to impress Tom. She respected him as the President and that had meant that the idea of disappointing him was heartbreaking for her. That was why Trey needed Tom to be firm about tonight being nothing to do with work. “She wants to impress you, she always wants to impress you.”

Tom nodded again then started picking up ingredients the moment they walked into the kitchen. Picking things up and putting them down again. “So… vegan, huh?” Tom looked at them all clearly a little confused then sighed. “How didn’t I know Kendra was vegan?”

“Do you often have dinner with your staff?” Trey thought about it and realised he probably did but the staff probably ordered for themselves so he never really needed to think about what they ate. Trey knew that Tom had always been adventurous with his food so he would probably enjoy this meal. “Wait til you eat this stuff though, I swear it’s like science you’ll love it.”

After a few minutes of silent chopping, Tom let out of breath of air and leant against the counter. “You two seem to have made a lot of plans.” It wasn’t quite a question but it wasn’t quite a statement either. Trey didn’t know what it was that Tom was trying to bring up, but he hoped that it wasn’t going to be a problem.

“Well, it’s only just over a month before the actual wedding. Kendra has her dress already.” Trey hadn’t seen it, obviously, but Judith had told him that it was going to knock his socks off and that made him very excited for it. “Her mom is glad we’re having the wedding this fast too. She’s quite a traditional Catholic.” Trey had actually been quite surprised by exactly how supportive Judith Daynes had been of their plans for a speedy wedding.

“Kendra and her mother are joining us for Christmas, right?” Tom reminded him and Trey had to think for a second. He remembered asking Judith if she’d like to but he didn’t remember the answer and he also didn’t remember if he’d said where they were going to have it. Trey now assumed it would be at Camp David but he wasn’t sure entirely. That was something they could talk about at a later date though. They still had three weeks to work that out.

“Yeah, I believe so.” He ended up answering, keeping it as noncommittal as he could when he realised that he was going to have to ask Judith again and convince both her and Kendra that it was going to be worth them going up to Camp David. Judith wasn’t much of a fan of travelling, Trey knew that, and it would have to be a good reason. “We want to all spend some time together before we’re all one family.” Maybe he would be able to convince them that that was a good enough reason too.

“You really are happy, aren’t you?” It was a question Trey hadn’t thought would ever need to be asked but given the fact that, in their whole lives, Tom hadn’t exactly gotten to see Trey happy all that often maybe it was something that deserved recognising. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this happy.”

“At least not while I’ve been on meds. Though I suppose manic doesn’t really count as being happy.” Being more open about his mental health was something that Kendra was encouraging and Trey actually found it refreshing not to hold it back. That was definitely starting to bleed into other parts of his life too. At Tom’s unspoken question Trey smiled. “She knows all about my issues, Tom. I’m not hiding anything from her. She knows every part of me and wants to spend her life with me regardless.”

“Those are the ones we know we need to keep.” His brother nodded and then went about doing what else he needed to do for dinner. Trey was glad to focus on something else and make easy conversation about the things going on for them. Sometimes it was easy to forget that they were in the White House and that this wasn’t just any old kitchen in America. It happened easiest when they were like this.

After a long, late evening Trey had been grateful Tom had offered them one of the spare rooms. They could have gone home but given Kendra needed to be back here in the morning and Trey was exhausted it was a lot easier to just settle into the guest room and remind Kendra that she had spare clothes in her office. As soon as they were alone Trey noticed that she was looking worried. “Ken, what you thinking?”

“How did I do?” She asked, the uncertainty in her voice not something that Trey was used to hearing at all. Kendra Daynes was normally the most confident and sure woman in any room but tonight she really had been out of her comfort zone and Trey hadn’t even noticed until right now. “With Tom and Penny. Did I do okay?” She pressed after another few seconds and Trey tilted his head and smiled. “I’m just nervous.”

“Kennie, Tom already loved you, he just needed to see you as a person and not just his lawyer. Penny though, she is always hard to win over but you did it.” Trey knew that she’d already had a start on that but it was something that Trey could make a big deal out of. “I think letting her pick the colour of her dress won that for you.”

“Well, I couldn’t not, could I?” Kendra smiled and Trey came beside her and wrapped his arms around her and kissed her neck a few times softly. Tonight had gone better than he’d expected and he was just happy that his family seemed to all love her as much as he did. “Think he’s going to be excited about the baby?”

“He’s going to be thrilled about the baby, when can we tell him?” Trey would admit that he was starting to get impatient about that and they’d only known themselves for a couple of weeks and that was making him nervous about it. He knew they’d found out early and so they couldn’t start telling people for a while but he wanted to be able to tell his brother.

“We should wait until I’m twelve weeks” She’d been saying that all the way along but Trey already knew that he wasn’t going to be able to keep it that long. He had only just managed to keep it in tonight and he had so desperately wanted to just let the cat out of the bag.

“Aren’t you like, six now?” He was pretty sure but he wanted her confirmation, when she nodded he groaned then leant down and kissed her neck a few more times. “I can’t wait for another 6 weeks, Ken. That’ll be almost February. What are you going to tell people about why you’re not drinking at the wedding?” If they couldn’t tell people until she was twelve weeks that was going to be after the wedding.

“I said we should, not that we would.” Kendra smiled and of course, there was a nuance that he hadn’t thought about. “I was thinking we’re going to have to tell family before then anyway. Tom, my mother… possibly the rest of the senior staff. I’m going to spread around that I’m giving up alcohol for the New Year, hopefully that will cover me for the wedding.”

“That’s a good plan. My smart wife, always thinking.” He laughed a little as he thought of how that was going to play given that Kendra was a fan of her wine. Until the New Year she was going to have to just avoid everyone else. They could think about how they’d handle New Year's Eve in a few days.

“I’m not your wife yet.” Kendra corrected him gently but Trey didn’t care for that. It wasn’t that long before he could say that for real and that was something that he was most looking forward too.

“I’m happy to skip a few weeks on the calendar.” Trey joked and turned her around to kiss her deeply. Every day that moved them closer just reminded him that he was going to get to spend his life connected to this woman. One of the biggest hurdles that Trey could think of had passed well and Trey was happy about everything that had worked out as well as it had. Now he only needed to look forward and at the end of the tunnel, there was a light and a future. He still felt guilty that he had gotten this out of Alex’s death, but she’d be happy for him, and that was all he really wanted to focus on.


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter! Nothing is resolved, of course, but I will be starting work on "That Something" and "Safe Haven" soon. Probably more on "That Something". They are being written for NaNo so nothing will be posted until December. Hope to see you back then.

Morning staff had become even more interesting in the week-and-a-half since they’d handed Emily’s investigation over to the special prosecutor. It was a constant list of who had gotten subpoenas and what Kendra thought on any given morning. The first fifteen minutes of every meeting was handed over to that. This morning though Beth was running late which meant they all had a few extra minutes to just try and wake up before they had to face the business of the day. “Good morning, good morning. Kendra how many subpoenas have been handed out now?”

Kendra, of course, was ready with the answer but she looked exhausted this morning. Lyor didn’t know how she was going to keep her pregnancy secret if she kept looking like she hadn’t slept all night, though he also didn’t know how she would remedy that either so it probably didn’t matter. “15 through my office to White House staffers. Most in the COS office, a few on the senior staff. The list of available lawyers is still in my office for staff.”

“Any more coming?” Seth asked, it was also asked every morning but Kendra’s answers seemed to change every day. Lyor knew that there was plenty of communication and so based on what evidence Flannery was asking for she would know more of what was going to be coming for them all. That was probably why things kept changing.

“A bunch. I’m not sure exactly who’ll be getting them but I make the assumption everyone in this room will have one, and most people on my staff, Seth’s staff and your staff, Beth.” For her part, Beth had kept almost all of Emily’s deputies, so it wasn’t a surprise that they would be getting the subpoenas. Those Beth hadn’t kept had moved over to Kendra’s staff, for the most part. Some to Aaron’s.

“What’s the exposure?” That was a new question and Lyor suddenly found himself being the one ready to answer that. It was a political question more than it was a legal one and that made it his wheelhouse. Sure enough, Kendra glanced at him and he ran the situation through his mind and frowned.

“As long as it stays classified it's minimal. But it’s been a couple of weeks and we will probably have a leak before too long.” Lyor didn’t like that he was thinking that, and he didn’t like that Kendra said it along with him. That meant they were both expecting it and soon. “Containment then is probably impossible, so we need to be ready for that.”

“Can you work out statements for that eventuality?” Beth’s attention turned to Seth at that and he just gave a sharp nod. Lyor had every faith that his boyfriend would be able to do exactly that, but he hated that they needed to. “Who has the most exposure?”

“Seth, probably. Followed by the President then me.” Kendra answered, looking at Seth as she said his name then surreptitiously avoiding his gaze for the rest of the statement. Not that Lyor blamed her for that. Seth hadn’t exactly been easy for her to deal with through any of this and he was sure that his boyfriend’s attitude hadn’t made Kendra’s job easy over the last 9 six months.

There was one thing that Lyor didn’t understand, though, and that was why Kendra herself was so high on that list. Lyor would have thought that as a fairly independent member of the senior staff Kendra would have been insulated from this situation. He definitely wouldn’t have thought she’d have had the same exposure as Seth. “Why you, Ken?”

“I didn’t report illegal actions I knew she’d ordered. It puts me in an... Awkward place.” When Seth nodded Lyor realised that they knew about that so it wasn’t going to be something that she could flat out deny and, truthfully, despite being a lawyer Kendra was far too truthful and honourable to actually lie about something like this, even if it was to save her own skin.

“You going to get punished for it?” Aaron asked, only just reminding Lyor that he was actually there. The NSA had been shockingly silent since he’d walked into the room and had a quiet conversation with Kendra. Lyor hadn’t been looking and he thought that Aaron may have actually left.  

“Probably not, nothing serious anyway. It would be classified as under privilege but they could still give me a slap on the wrist.” Lyor would have to look that up later to find out what might happen to their lawyer if she was accused of something in relation to this. Lyor was certain that Kendra’s own counsel would have been tracking it but that wasn’t settling Lyor.

“Well, we’ll keep that in mind too,” Beth said, effectively stopping any further discussion of that line of inquiry, she was clearly ready to move on and Lyor was a little thankful for that. He understood why this was such a large part of each meeting but he didn’t like how much time they spent on it. “Sit down with Seth, work out statements that make it seem like it’s not that big of a deal.”

“The former Chief of Staff is under investigation for conspiracy to commit treason but it’s not a big deal.” Lyor deadpanned, trying to make light of the situation but absolutely certain that his terrible joke would go over the heads of most of the people gathered in the room. He wasn’t going to explain it, though.  

“Actually she’s being pursued under conspiracy to defraud the US. Easier case to make.” Kendra corrected and at this point Lyor couldn’t even be mad at her. He should have known that, should have asked what the actual charges were likely to be, but he hadn’t. He was actually glad that Kendra had said they were going for the case they could make easier rather than letting Emily off easy.

“Alright, now that that’s covered let’s move on to the other business of the day.” Beth cut off anything else and brought up the other things they all needed to be working on for the day. Lyor was mostly just glad that he actually had work to do again but there was something eating away at him, he couldn’t stop thinking about the fact he hadn’t gotten a subpoena yet.

The meeting wound down after another forty-five minutes of them trying to make sense of what was happening for the day, and once they were dismissed he stood up and jogged out after Kendra, calling to her before she did her vanishing act and disappeared into the Counsel’s office. “Kendra, wait a minute.”

“Sure.” She slowed her pace to a gentle stroll and waited for him to fall into step with her. Lyor knew that he’d called her, that he needed and wanted to talk to her, but all of a sudden he wasn’t sure that he knew what he wanted to say. It was such a simple request but it also seemed silly at the same time. “What’s up Lyor?” Kendra asked after a few more minutes and it was obvious she was getting impatient.

“I haven’t got a subpoena yet.” It fell out of his mouth once he was pushed and he wished he could take it back and make it sound more professional, or at the very least, a little less like he was scared of it. He didn’t need to sound like he was getting everything done but he did want to sound like he was still in control.

“They haven’t all been issued yet. If you haven’t got one you may be in the second round.” Kendra said it with such calm compassion that Lyor felt even sillier for worrying about it. She was clearly expecting people to have this worry, and that was a little comforting. Though there was a part of him that didn’t like that he was just anyone though.

“I thought you said everyone in the room had one?” He had to ask though he would fully admit that he may have misunderstood, he’d been keeping an eye on Seth at that moment and had been mentally skipping parts of the conversation.

“No, I said they would.” Kendra smiled and reached out for his arm and squeezed it gently. She was always so supportive even when he was worrying himself for no good reason. “Right now I think only Seth and I have them of the senior staff.” That made him feel better too, he wasn’t the only one not been called yet. “Don’t try to rush it along, Lyor. It’ll happen and then you’ll regret worrying about it.”

“I just don’t… want to be implicated.” Lyor didn’t let his thoughts go there, it didn’t matter what had happened in the past but sometimes he was still scared that he’d wake up in a world where the lies that had almost destroyed his career were still the way that people thought about him. “It’s happened in the past.”

“Seth told me about Greg Bowen when we were dealing with all that.” Of course he did, though it wouldn’t have taken much effort for Kendra to find out about it anyway. She just smiled and squeezed his arm again. “Don’t worry, Lyor. You’re pretty much completely clear here. You also already have your attorney and when I get your subpoena I’ll forward it to them too.”

“Thanks, Kendra.” He was grateful that she was so patient but he wasn’t sure why he was so surprised. He’d seen how patient she could be. She’d been patient with him before, even, but he was still shocked that she could continue to be so calm.

“It’s my job.” Lyor knew that she was trying just to shrug off his thanks but he wasn’t going to let her do that so he patted the hand that still rested on her arm in a silent moment of understanding. Lyor went to walk away before Kendra’s hand tightened on his arm and she spoke again, quieter this time. “Hey, can you help me?”

“What?” He asked, and it came out much harsher than he intended. He grimaced and hoped that Kendra would understand that he didn’t mean that. She just smiled and waved it off then took a breath as if she was struggling with what to say.

“Look you’re still the only person other than Trey who knows about my… situation.” The way she said that made it sound as though she wasn’t thrilled and Lyor knew that she was so obviously  “Do you mind helping me keep it on the quiet? We’re going to tell the rest of the senior staff at Christmas, after we’ve told the President and my mom… but otherwise, we want to keep it private until the new year.”

“You don’t need to ask, Ken. I wouldn’t tell anyone without your permission.” He knew that she just needed his reassurance, the same as he’d needed hers a minute earlier. It didn’t make giving it all that much easier. “As long as you and Trey are happy then I’m just happy for you.”

“Thanks, Lyor.” She smiled and pulled away and headed into her office. Lyor just looked around and took a deep breath before heading back to his office. He knew that he had a lot of work that he still needed to get working on but he was also here wondering if he should check with Kendra that she was alright. In the end, he decided that she would come and talk to him if she needed to and he should mind his own business.

That meant that he needed to get on with his work, and right now that was quite thin on the ground. Congress was in recess and there weren’t any major pieces of legislation he was working on. There hadn’t even been a PR disaster in a few days. Instead, he was tinkering with his board that he’d created for the President’s re-election campaign. It was how Lyor was going to make sure they won and they all had another four years working in this building. Though Lyor wasn’t sure he’d actually want to be here for another four years.

He was still ruminating on that idea when there was a knock at the door forcing him out of his thoughts. He hadn’t been expecting anyone this afternoon so he knew if they were coming to get him that something must be going on. “Hey, the President wants us,” Kendra said quietly as she tilted her head around to see where he was sat.

“Us?” There could be many people included in that, and Lyor was intrigued as to who it was. If it was just the two of them he had a moral dilemma that he was grappling with. He liked to pull just him and Kendra in to argue those ideas for him. Their opinions on many things set them on completely different angles and that was why it worked to have them as sounding boards for difficult decisions. Others would make it more interesting but also less easy to predict.

“You, me, Aaron and Beth.” Oh, now that didn’t sound good. Lyor didn’t like it being the four of them. Especially without Seth or any of the other members of staff. There were so very few reasons for it just to be them.

“What have we done?” It had to be asked. Lyor couldn’t even think of any fighting he’d done with Aaron. He was getting out of his chair while still thinking about what they all could have possibly done to get them called to the President’s office unexpectedly. When there was something going on it was more understandable, but it was a slow day.

“I’m not sure but he got his subpoena this afternoon so I’m going to guess it’s about that.” Lyor blinked for a moment at the mention of someone else getting a subpoena but shook it off as he followed Kendra out into the halls. She was rearranging papers in her file while she walked, possibly showing how the senior staff expected the rest of the staff to get out of their way. Lyor just watched to make sure nobody actually bumped into her before they reached the Oval Office. “This is not going to be a fun meeting.”

It turned out that Kendra’s prediction was an understatement, but that didn’t stop anyone from attending. It was clear from the second they walked in that there was a problem, and as soon as the door was closed the President held up and envelope and looked between the four of them. “What is this?”

“It’s a subpoena, sir?” Lyor quipped before he could stop himself. This was the absolute worst time and worst place to be making jokes and yet here he was, making an awful joke about something that shouldn’t really be joked about. He knew that and yet here he was, still.

“This is a bad time to be a smartass, Lyor.” The President cut him off and Lyor immediately schooled his features again and tried, desperately, to get control of his smart mouth before it got him into any more trouble. “When did this happen. I knew we had an internal investigation ongoing but this is clearly not from you, Kendra.”

“No, sir.” She shook her head and for a second everyone else seemed to be looking at one another before Kendra spoke again, hesitancy clear in her tone as all three of the others in the room seemed to be uncomfortable while Lyor was just confused. “We escalated the investigation to the attorney general when we learnt the potential extent of the corruption.”

“Wait a second… _you didn’t_ _tell him_.” Lyor yelped as he realised why everyone else in the room seemed to be jumping. Nobody had told the President that they had had to escalate the investigation. If he wasn’t so stressed about this he would be laughing hysterically. “In what universe is that a good idea?”

“Beth said she was going to, two weeks ago.” Aaron piped up and Lyor blinked again. He wasn’t sure that throwing your boss under the bus was the right way to go about it either. Lyor couldn’t make that point very easily, though. It wouldn’t be right.

“A lot happened that day! It ended up slipping my mind.” Beth confirmed while Lyor just stood shaking his head. He wasn’t sure exactly who he could blame for this but it was funny either way. “I’m sorry, sir. This was entirely my fault. I told Kendra and Aaron that I would inform you.”

“All of you should have come to me and told me.” There was a quiet chorus of ‘yes sir’ from the other three in the room while Lyor just stood chuckling to himself. He wasn’t going to stop finding this funny any to like soon. “How about you fill me in _now_?”

“Sir, I’ll say that despite this… _oversight_ … Kendra and Aaron have been making sure that the staff have been kept informed well. Apparently, this part slipped through the cracks.” Lyor decided he would stick up for his friend, and Aaron, in this situation. They hadn’t really meant to keep him out of the loop, that had just been an unhappy accident. “We all know where it stands.”

“The situation with Emily was really that serious?” The president asked, dropping to one of the sofas in clear disappointment. Lyor took the other end of the sofa while Kendra, Aaron and Beth sat on the other side. They all knew Emily was the President’s first believer and friend in politics, but they couldn’t protect him from this any longer.

“Yes, sir. We believe so.” Aaron answered and sat forward, beginning to explain all that they’d found. Kendra filled in blanks and explained the legalities, making sure everyone understood. Even Lyor hadn’t known much of this but he was glad he knew it all now. It was definitely easier hearing it like this than when Kendra was just telling you just on her own.

Lyor actually found it even more entertaining when they got out of the meeting. He wasn’t going to let Kendra, Aaron and Beth forget about this for a very long time. It wasn’t as though it was something easy to forget. “You forgot to tell the President.” He said as soon as they were away from the Oval, truthfully he just couldn’t imagine that.

“Shut up Lyor.” Kendra snapped almost instantly and Lyor had to admit that there was something entertaining about the fact that he now had something that was going to annoy the three of them. He could sense the approval of Aaron and Beth while they kept walking. Lyor just couldn’t let it go even though it was possibly a mistake any of them would make. But it was just so entertaining.

“You told Seth, who blamed you for all his problems, but you didn’t actually consider telling _the President_.” Lyor enjoyed teasing her about this, and he was leaving Beth and Aaron out. He didn’t have that relationship with either of them. He would use it when he could but to this level of mocking he would save for Kendra. “Surely you had plenty of opportunities, given you’re marrying his brother.”

“Funnily enough, Lyor… when I’m alone with them as a family we don’t actually talk about work.” Kendra said with her sarcastically sweet voice that she used to the best of all abilities when she needed to. She then turned her head to Aaron and Lyor smirked even more.  “Can you order someone to shoot him?”

“Probably, but it’s still classed as murder,” Aaron responded after a moment. Lyor got the feeling that Aaron wasn’t actually against doing that either. Somehow that actually made it even better for him to keep pushing it. He wanted to see how far he could do it before Kendra actually snapped.

“I can make up a reason it was necessary and argue it in court, it’s fine.” Maybe she had already snapped. Her being pregnant was going to shorten her fuse. Lyor needed to remember that. As they turned the corner again they were stopped by Seth standing motionless in the middle of the corridor staring at something on his phone. “Hey, Seth.”

“Hello… Seth?” Beth spoke again, confirming that she actually was still in step with the rest of them. Something that Lyor would admit that he hadn’t been entirely sure about at one point. Seth was still clearly transfixed by his phone then looked up to see who was around. Lyor was mildly concerned by how he seemed to be.

“You all need to see this.” He said and they then ducked into the closest office, which just happened to be his. Seth turned the TV on and switched it straight to the news. Immediately there was Emily’s picture on the corner of the screen and the words ‘chief of traitors’ beneath it. Lyor felt his jaw drop and one look around the room confirmed he wasn’t alone.

“How did it get out?” He asked and looked to Seth, somehow just assuming that his partner would have some idea of who and how. Not that that was ever all that easy to confirm. Lyor didn’t like the idea that this was some anonymous thing, he wanted to find out who it was and he wanted to hold them accountable.

“You both predicted it would this morning,” Beth said before anyone else could speak. Lyor hated that she was right, he and Kendra had both said that it would leak before long but he didn’t expect it to be today and he seriously doubted that Kendra would have thought that it was today either.

“Yeah, but I thought once we actually started being interviewed. This is earlier than I thought.” Kendra said, chewing on the corner of her thumb like she tended to do when she was unsure. She didn’t have many tells but that was one that Lyor knew and he was fairly sure that nobody else would pick up on it. “We haven’t even had time to sit down and talk about this.”

“You ready to go up in front of the Press about it, Ken?” Seth nodded softly, looking to Kendra as well. Lyor knew why too, the faster they went up to make a comment on this the easier they could distance themselves, and while both Kendra and Aaron had been involved in the investigation, Kendra was the one who would be easier to speak to the press.

“Can you give me fifteen minutes?” She asked, removing her thumb from her mouth so that she could actually get the words out. Lyor didn’t blame her for how she was feeling and what she was worrying about, but he wanted to tell her to get a grip because she could do this. He knew that she could and everyone else in the room had faith in her too.

“That’s all you’ve got. You’ll be great.” Seth said, echoing Lyor’s unspoken thoughts. This was going to be something difficult for all of them, and they all knew it was going to pose many difficult questions that truthfully Lyor wasn’t sure they even had an answer for right now.

“I gotta go speak to Steven and the AG.” Kendra took off at speed, pulling her phone out of her pocket as she went. Lyor watched her until he couldn’t see her anymore, then watched as Beth and Aaron both stepped out, speaking about other management issues that they were likely to have out of this, leaving Lyor and Seth alone.

“Who do you think leaked it?” Lyor asked, Seth would never say something in front of others if he wasn’t absolutely sure, but on top of all of that Lyor knew that he was going to have a theory. That was all they needed right now, and Lyor wondered if Seth’s thoughts would line up with his, even though there was no reason for Lyor to be suspecting who he did.

“Emily,” Seth said once he’d shut the door and Lyor blinked slowly. “She got her subpoena today. She text me.” Alright, Seth’s idea made more sense than Lyor’s. Of course, the AG wasn’t going to actually leak an investigation like this. Not after having made an agreement. “I’m not telling Kendra yet. I think she should _not_ know this until after she’s spoken to the press. Given how angry she can get.”

“Yeah, that’s probably for the best.” Seth didn’t even know the additional stresses on Kendra right now either. So if he already knew that it was going to be a bad idea, Lyor was glad that he was erring on the side of caution. It would be best for them all if they were cautious. Lyor was worried about how Seth was going to cope with all of this, the press were going to pry into his previous relationship with Emily. That was going to open a lot of barely-closed wounds that Lyor wasn’t sure they were ready to tackle, but there was only one thing that he could offer to help with that. “Talk to me if you need to.”

“I know I’m going to be in the firing line but I’m ready.” Seth nodded, clearly determined. “I’ll see you later. I better make sure Kendra isn’t losing her mind.” Lyor smiled as Seth kissed his cheek while walking past him. Lyor knew that things weren’t going to be easy for any of them but he hoped that it didn’t prove to be too stressful for them. They still had a country to run, and that was what Lyor should go back to focusing on.


End file.
